Visa has proposed a blockchain account design that could allow Ethereum users to arrange auto-payments from a self-custodied wallet. The company says that this allows users to set up recurring bill payments.

Ethereum does not allow this at a basic level, as automated smart contracts cannot request transactions. Rather, user accounts must initiate and send transactions manually.The company said that it explored a possible solution as part of its internal Crypto Hackathon challenge this year.

This approach allows a merchant to deploy an automatic payment smart contract. After a user with a delegable account grants permission, a merchant can trigger a payment by calling the charge function of the automatic payments contract. The user’s delegable account also adds the auto-payment contract to a whitelist for future payments.