In a world where i payments there are more and more electronicprotect the privacy and the safety of paying user data is an increasingly pressing priority, but also increasingly difficult to translate into reality. One of the answers to this challenge is called “tokenization” and it could completely change the way we make an online payment.
The CEO of is convinced of this MasterCardMichael Miebach, who at the American broadcaster CNBC he explained that by 2030 European credit card holders will no longer be forced to enter i 16 card numbers when they make an online payment. In fact, instead of numbers, there will be a complex system of token.
What does token mean
Tokens, in the world of technology, is a sort of magic word that is used as a joker and has several meanings. In the field of digital payment security, however, a token refers to a information package which is exchanged in a way completely anonymous and that has a great advantage.
The advantage of the token is the possibility of to separatein the flow of data used to make the online payment, the card data, and therefore of its owner, from those of the actual payment.
Today, in fact, when we buy something online we generate a data flow inside which, although encrypted, there are both our name and surname as well as the complete card number and data on what we are buying.
With the “tokenization“, however, the payment circuit creates a temporary token with the card data that is sent and kept separate from the remaining transaction data.
Furthermore, to ensure that the card is used by its legitimate holder, the use of so-called “passkey“: the user will be able to authorize the transaction by reading their face or fingerprint. So you will no longer have to remember your PIN or other codes.
Mastercard says it is already working with all the main European banks, which are the main intermediaries between the circuit that issues the cards and the end user, so that by 2030 all new payment cards are tokenized and passkey compatible.
What changes for the user
With the tokenization of online economic transactions the user profits twice: they are not the only ones more comfortablebut also Safer.
The convenience comes from the fact that the user does not have to manually enter the 16 digits of the card when entering the payment method, security comes from the need to use the passkey for payment and theinability to clone tokenized cards.
Today, cards can be cloned because they are based on a 16-digit number, user data, expiration date and a CVV code, all information that always remains the same. The tokenhowever, is random and is generated at the time of purchase, therefore it always changes.
The future is tokenized
Mastercard is by no means the only electronic payment circuit that is focusing on tokenization: VISA, the main competitor, is also doing the same.
But not only that, because tokenization is a technology that will most likely also be used with thedigital eurothe electronic money managed directly by European Central Bank which, in the intentions of the EU, will allow European citizens to do without American payment circuits.
