MasterCard continues to get into Blockchain

Credit card giant MasterCard is creating a “Method and System for Authentication of Coupons via Blockchain.” This is according to a patent that was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Accenture estimated that blockchain technology could reduce banks infrastructural cost by as much as 30%. It seems that MasterCard knows this and has been taking steady action to adopt blockchain technology. This is not the first patent MasterCard has that is blockchain based. Recently they filed for another patent that has to do with verifying identity data securely.

In that  patent MasterCard states:

“In such instances, it may be difficult for an entity to disprove a false identity, leading to an interaction with an inauthentic individual or entity. Thus, there is a need for a technical solution to provide for the immutable storage of identity and credential data that may prevent fabrication and inaccuracies.”

Although it is evident that MasterCard values blockchain technology and is adopting it, they are not so keen to adopt cryptocurrencies.

The government mandated digital currencies are interesting. Non-government mandated currency is junk,” says Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard.

It’s not clear as to whether MasterCard feels threatened by cryptocurrencies and is in actuality testing programs behind the scenes. This is a possibility considering the potential market opportunity that would be missed.

One thing is certain, regardless of if MasterCard adopts cryptocurrencies anytime soon, they definitely value the underlying technology.