Visa is reportedly being investigated by the US Justice Department over allegedly setting higher pricing for merchants that don’t use its tokenization technology.

The investigation, first reported by Bloomberg, is part of a wider antitrust probe into the company which started at the beginning of 2021.

Visa’s tokenization service is aimed at securing digital payments and improving e-commerce innovation and acceptance.

In a tokenized transaction, the customer’s 16-digit card number is replaced by a digital token which only Visa can unlock, which protects the underlying account information.

Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission also launched a probe into the business' tokenization service.

The investigation looked into whether both Visa and Mastercard's security tokens restrict debit-card routing in digital payments.

According to Reuters, Visa revealed in July that the US Justice Department had asked for more information and documents relating to its US debit card policies and competition with other companies in the payments space.

FStech has approached Visa for comment on the ongoing US Justice Department investigation.

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