Giants Joining the Game: Mastercard Files Patent For Speedier Crypto Payments

Financial services giant Mastercard wants to speed up cryptocurrency transaction processing times and has filed a patent for a faster payment system, according to an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

CoinDesk, citing an application titled “Method and system for linkage of blockchain-based assets to fiat currency accounts,” says Mastercard lays out a new type of user account by which they will be able to transact in cryptocurrencies but pegged to a fiat currency. The systems and methods of the present disclosure practically cut down on the time it takes for blockchain-based payments to go through between two accounts.

Time to buy the dip?

With the patent application, Mastercard aims to avoid sending a transaction and waiting for it to be added to the next block.  In order to achieve that, the company says that a secondary wallet would be created to store “a plurality of account profiles, each profile including a fiat currency amount, blockchain currency amount, account identifier, and address.”

Essentially, Mastercard seeks to optimize the process of settling cryptocurrency payments between merchants and buyers, on retail or e-commerce platforms.

It further explains: “Existing payment systems are often configured to perform complex calculations, risk assessments, and fraud algorithm applications extremely fast, as to ensure quick processing of fiat currency transactions. Accordingly, the use of traditional payment networks and payment systems technologies in combination with blockchain currencies may provide consumers and merchants the benefits of the decentralized blockchain while still maintaining security of account information and provide a strong defense against fraud and theft. “

The last time the company filed a patent was related to cryptocurrencies back in November 2017. It was awarded a patent for a blockchain system that would be created for the purpose of reducing the amount of time and energy needed to confirm a transaction made with MasterCard.