EMVCo announced it would expand its scope to lead payments-industry work on standardizing tokenization for digital payments. This set the stage for network-led token services to follow a shared technical approach, improving interoperability across banks, merchants, and device makers.
EMVCo published the EMV Payment Tokenisation Specification – Technical Framework v1.0, providing a common blueprint for “end-to-end” payment tokenization. Tokenization replaces the primary account number (PAN) with a restricted-use token (for example, limited to a device or merchant) to reduce fraud if data is stolen.
Visa launched Visa Token Service, a network capability that replaces the card’s account number with a token for use in online and mobile payments. This helped issuers and technology partners support new digital checkout experiences while reducing the exposure of sensitive card data.
Mastercard announced the Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), a token platform intended to support secure mobile and in-app payments. MDES emphasized using tokens in place of the PAN and managing token lifecycle events (such as replacing tokens when a device is lost).
Apple Pay became available in the U.S., using device-based payments that avoid sharing the actual card number with merchants. Support from Visa and Mastercard helped make network tokenization a practical foundation for large-scale mobile wallet adoption.
Visa announced the Visa Digital Enablement Program (VDEP) to simplify partner access to Visa token technology and speed deployments. Visa positioned Android Pay as an early partner, signaling that token services were becoming a standard integration path for major wallets.
Samsung announced launch dates for Samsung Pay in South Korea and the United States. With major card networks supporting it, Samsung Pay added another large-scale wallet use case where tokenized credentials could be managed across devices and updated without reissuing plastic cards.
EMVCo publicly released EMV Payment Tokenisation – Technical Framework v2.0, updating definitions and roles to support broader e-commerce and operational token management. The update reflected lessons learned from early deployments and aimed to improve global interoperability as token usage grew.
Visa highlighted growth in Visa Token Service adoption, including expansion to additional partners and a focus on credential-on-file (COF) tokenization (cards stored at merchants for repeat billing). This signaled a shift from tokenization mainly for mobile wallets toward broader e-commerce and stored-card use cases.
A Federal Reserve Bank of Boston report summarized how EMV payment tokenization changed digital payment security after the 2014 framework, and how the ecosystem matured through updates like the 2017 framework. It documented a broader industry view: tokenization was increasingly treated as a core control for card-not-present (online and in-app) payments, not only for NFC tap-to-pay.
Mastercard and Cardsmobile presented a universal tokenization platform powered by MDES at Mobile World Congress. The initiative illustrated how Mastercard’s token services were being packaged so issuers could more easily add existing cards (and issue new ones) to smartphones and wearables.
By the end of the 2013–2019 period, Visa’s and Mastercard’s token service platforms (VTS and MDES) had become foundational infrastructure for major digital wallets and expanding e-commerce uses like credential-on-file. This marked a clear outcome: payment tokenization shifted from a new security idea into a widely implemented network capability designed to reduce PAN exposure across devices, apps, and online merchants.
Payment tokenization initiatives by Visa and Mastercard (2013–2019)