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TOKEN BINS

 

Checking Token or PAR using a BIN Database


To avoid confusion, it's helpful to solidify the industry terms:

  • FPAN (Funding Primary Account Number): The real, original 16-digit card number issued by the bank. This is the sensitive data you cannot retrieve via a simple BIN lookup on the token.

  • DPAN (Device Primary Account Number): The token generated by the Token Service Provider (TSP). This is the number used for processing transactions.

  • PAR (Payment Account Reference): A non-PAN identifier used by schemes (Visa/MC) to uniquely link all tokens associated with a single FPAN for analytical purposes. PAR cannot be checked in a BIN database as it is not a numeric prefix.

 

Short answer:

 

No, you cannot submit a Network Token or its associated PAR (Payment Account Reference) to a standard BIN database (including ones from official sources)

and directly retrieve the full original card's BIN information.


BIN Database maps the initial digits of a Primary Account Number (PAN) to the issuing bank and card product details.


Network Tokens and PARs are non-sensitive, cryptographically generated identifiers. They are managed exclusively by the respective Token Service Provider (TSP) of the card scheme (e.g., Visa Token Service).

The Token or PAR structure is intentionally disconnected from the original card's BIN structure.


To obtain information about the underlying card, the merchant or processor must query the Token Service Provider (TSP), not a standalone BIN database.

This service is often called Token Data Inquiry or Token De-tokenization.

 

 

What We Can Do

 

We can still derive card type and category from tokens (DPANs). Below are two real life examples:


FPAN: 518404

DPAN: 543598


518404;MASTERCARD;PAYNETICS EAD;DEBIT;PREPAID;UNITED KINGDOM;GB;GBR;826;;

543598;MASTERCARD;AF PAYMENTS LTD;DEBIT;PREPAID RELOADABLE;UNITED KINGDOM;GB;GBR;826;;


FPAN: 374327

DPAN: 379338


374327;AMERICAN EXPRESS;AXP PCMC;DEBIT;PREPAID ANONYMOUS;UNITED STATES;US;USA;840;;

379338;AMERICAN EXPRESS;AXP PCMC;DEBIT;PREPAID RELOADABLE;UNITED STATES;US;USA;840;;


As you can see, in both cases we see that card type and card cetegories are the same for FPANs and DPANs.