US banks want to develop a digital wallet to compete with PayPal and Apple

Banks are using crypto technology to their advantage, as a group of US banks want to develop a digital wallet

Financial institutions are looking to improve their operations with technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrency, and some banks are using money transfer service Zelle to create a digital wallet.

In fact, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One Financial, US Bancorp, PNC Financial Services Group, and Truist Financial, all plan to acquire a working portfolio in the second half of 2023, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The digital wallet will be independent of Zelle, operated by EWS and intended as an alternative to existing services such as PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Get a digital wallet with “Privacy”

The digital wallet will not ask users to provide their card numbers, unlike other services. According to banks, it should reduce the risk of fraud and increase acceptance of payments, avoiding costs, damage to reputation and loss of business.

Specifically, users will only be required to enter their email address during checkout, at which point the vendor will ping the embedded web server, which will in turn contact banks to determine which user cards can be used with the wallet, so that the user can choose or refrain from making a purchase.

In addition, the wallet will support 150 million debit and credit cards, targeting US consumers who have been paying regularly, using their cards online in the past few years, and providing a phone number and email address.

In principle, the digital wallet will work with Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards, while negotiations with other card networks, such as Discover Financial Services, are still ongoing.

Interestingly, Apple has already taken a step deeper into the financial services sector and is teaming up with Goldman Sachs to work on a savings account as well as a “buy now, pay later” offer.