Visa Issues 1 Billionth Token in Latin America & the Caribbean, Generating USD3.5 Billion uplift to digital commerce in the region
Miami, February 6, 2025 – Latin America and the Caribbean’s digital economy experienced an uplift of more than USD3.5 billion in payments volume in 2024 as a result of Visa Token Service (VTS) adoption1 , Visa announced today. This achievement underscores the powerful value that tokens bring to digital commerce, both in-store and online, as the number of tokens reached the 1 billion milestone in Latin America and the Caribbean. This achievement underscores the increasing value of tokens to make digital transactions more secure, easier and faster, while enhancing consumers’ trust in their online shopping experiences.
The role of tokenization has never been more critical to build a secure and agile digital economy. This technology – replaces sensitive personal data with a cryptographic key that conceals sensitive payment data – continues to revolutionize the future of online commerce.
“This remarkable milestone is just the beginning of our unwavering commitment to enhance the payment experiences for consumers and merchants in this rapidly expanding ecommerce ecosystem,” said Romina Seltzer, Head of Products for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean. “Visa’s tokens are proving to be a game-changer, not only safeguarding online payments but also leading the charge into the future of commerce. At Visa, along with our partners, we´ll continue accelerating the adoption of our token technology, unlocking its full potential to help everyone thrive in this new era.”
Visa’s tokenized transactions are expected to continue growing over the next years in the region as most issuers in the region now support network tokens and nearly 40 Token Service Providers in the region are certified with Visa Token Service capabilities.
Visa’s token technology is also paving the way for further innovations in commerce. A prime example is Visa Click to Pay, which is a tokenized experience that is simplifying online shopping like never before, rapidly emerging as the preferred solution for merchants to enable fast, easy and secure digital checkouts. Click to Pay transforms the online payment experience in much the same way contactless has transformed in-store payments. It offers a faster online checkout experience in multiple digital channels with higher security through tokenization, allowing consumers to make fast purchases in as few as one click, bypassing traditional methods that require entering passwords or card details each time.
The value of Visa Token technology
Tokenization is a simple, yet powerful concept pioneered by Visa, with tokens emerging as the silent heroes of seamless ecommerce experiences. Basically, with Visa’s token technology, transactions are protected by replacing 16-digit Visa account numbers with a unique token or digital identifier that can be securely deployed into different devices or stored in the cloud.
This innovative technology is benefiting issuers, acquirers, merchants, and consumers in powerful ways:
- Enhanced security -Tokenization is bringing safer online transactions while helping reduce fraud and the risk of payments being declined. Visa’s tokenized payments prevented $600 million in fraud in 2023 with a technology that can help reduce fraud by up to 30%.
- Increased authorizations – For merchants, the security and speed offered by payment tokens can boost their revenues and payments success rates. Visa’s token technology helps to improve conversions, with a 6% authorization lift resulting in more than $40 billion in incremental ecommerce sales for businesses globally.²
- Enabler of innovation – Tokens allow the use of digital credentials regardless of channel, device or form factor, catalyzing a wide range of innovative commerce experiences (i.e., Click to Pay, Tap to Pay, Scan to Pay, IoT and digital wallets such as Google Pay).
Visa's pioneering move into data tokenization holds positive prospects for the future of digital commerce. According to Juniper research, the tokenization technology is expected to be used in 85% of global ecommerce transactions by 2028³ with tokenized transactions projected to double from 283 billion in 2025 to 574 billion in 2029⁴ .
As a global leader in digital payments, Visa’s tokenization technologies are integral to the company’s broader efforts to enable the most secure and reliable movement of money for everyone, everywhere. Visa has invested over $12 billion in technology over the last five years, including to reduce fraud and enhance network security, establishing high standards for transactions around the world⁵.
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About Visa
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.
1. Processed payment volume using tokenized credentials over VisaNet in LAC region for the year Jan to Dec 2024, multiplied by the authorization uplift.
2. VisaNet, 2018-2023. Visa credit and debit global card-not-present (CNP) payment volume for tokenized vs non-tokenized credentials.
3. https://www.juniperresearch.com/press/network-tokenisation-to-facilitate-85-of-all/
4.Network Tokenised Transactions to Reach 574 Billion Globally in 2029
5. Notice of 2025 Annual Meeting & Proxy Statement