The global payments provider is going to investigate the opportunities offered by the blockchain technology and develop a blockchain network as part of the company’s effort to explore fintech innovations.

In a recently published job listing the corporation announced its demand for a specialist to occupy the position of a senior software engineer with an implication it will be related to blockchain development. There hasn’t been, though, any official statement yet declaring the beginning of a blockchain project.

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include dealing with distributed ledger, together with other innovative financial technologies.

“The Engineer will work on research and development activities in the emerging payment, Blockchain, QR Code, Virtual currency and many other emerging payment technologies,” reads the job listing.

As a member of the Visa Research team, the employee will participate in investigation and development, including the work on a proprietary proof of concept. However, staying in close contact with Product and Technology teams, the engineer will work for the best possible implementation of the cutting edge technologies in real life.

Visa Research is a newly created organisation aiming at both fundamental and applied research in the area of payment technologies. The corporation’s interest to blockchain agrees with the ideas expressed in the financial overview published by VisaEurope at the end of 2015. The company then claimed that blockchain was “no longer a matter of choice,” instead becoming a reality to live with.

Visa is thus following the trend set by a number financial corporations, banks and governmental bodies that have recently engaged in blockchain research and experiments. Among them are ORIX Corporation, ORIX Bank Corporation, The Shizuoka Bank, NTT DATA Corporation, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, EPAM, ISITC, JPMorgan, the Linux Foundation, the Bank of England and Sony.

Andrew Levich