Furthering its interest in blockchain-based technology, MasterCard has filed a patent for a system designated to increase the speed with which blockchain nodes are being verified.
It seems the bees in the company’s crypto department have been busier than one may think. Earlier in April, MasterCard Labs, the company’s innovation section, said that they’re looking to hire 175 more staff members, including blockchain experts.
The company has now filed another blockchain-related patent, dated April 26th, for a system that would supposedly take care of a rather pressing issue.
The Problem at Hand
In the aforementioned patent application, MasterCard clearly outlines some of the benefits of using blockchain-based technology, saying that:
One of the benefits of the blockchain is it can serve as an immutable ledger that stores a record for every transaction ever conducted via that blockchain. As such, a blockchain may store thousands, millions, or even billions of transaction records over time in a vast number of different blocks.
Indeed, decentralized and verifiable record tracking and data storage are amongst the landmarks of the innovative technology, even though it has quite a lot more to offer. Nevertheless, MasterCard also goes on to explain that difficulties for newer nodes wanting to participate in the blockchain may come to light as each of the previously existing blocks (that could be billions), has to be verified by the new node before the generation of new blocks.
The verification of such a large number of blocks may take a significant amount of time, during which new blocks may be added to the blockchain, further delaying the ability for the new node to participate.
Offering a Solution
The subject of the patent application is a solution for this exact problem. MasterCard wants to patent a system for the generation of a blockchain which is specifically configured for faster navigation.
Shedding light on the matter, the company goes on to explain the following:
The use of specialized flags and hash values included in the headers of blocks in a blockchain may enable for the speed of navigation of a blockchain to be significantly increased, which may greatly reduce the computing time and power required to verify the blockchain. As a result, navigation and verification of the blockchain may be more efficient, which may increase the ability for new nodes to participate in the blockchain, and for users and nodes to review the blockchain to identify specific transaction records.
Needless to say, the patent application does attest to the company’s interest in the innovative technology.
As a matter of fact, MasterCard’s executive was pretty clear that the company would gladly look at cryptocurrencies in a ‘favorable way,’ as long as the latter is backed by a regulator and its value is not anonymous, essentially denying all interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies of the kind.
Do you think MasterCard will loosen its grip on cryptocurrencies? Please let us know in the comments below!
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