Select a page

Banking News

Credit card giant opens access to blockchain platform

Credit card giant opens access to blockchain platform

(23 October 2017 – Global) Mastercard is to open up access to its inhouse blockchain technology platform via an application programming interface (API) which will be made available to developers at banks and retailers. 

The credit card giant has filed for over 35 patents in blockchain and invested in Digital Currency Group, a collaborator that builds, incubates and seeds Bitcoin and blockchain technology-related companies. It recently joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to explore the possibilities of the Ethereum technology across a wide range of potential use cases, many of them well outside the scope of Mastercard’s traditional payments environment.

The card scheme initially added three provisional blockchain APIs to its developer platform in October last year: core blockchain API, smart contracts API and fast pay network API.

The company said it has tested and validated its permissioned ledger and will initially implement the technology in the business-to-business (B2B) space to address challenges of speed, transparency, and costs in cross-border payments. The platform has been engineered to address non-card payment transaction such as B2B payments and trade finance transactions complemented by built-in proof-of-provenance to authenticate products across the supply chain.

“By combining Mastercard blockchain technology with our settlement network and associated network rules, we have created a solution that is safe, secure, auditable and easy to scale,” says Ken Moore, executive vice president, Mastercard Labs.

“When it comes to payments, we want to provide choice and flexibility to our partners where they are able to seamlessly use both our existing and new payment rails based on the needs and requirements of their customers.”

East & Partners's avatar

Comment on this article

 

Your comments will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Please enter the word you see in the image below:


Subscribe

Subscribe to our mailing list

Sign up now to keep up-to-date with the latest
market news and insights in B2B banking.

* indicates required

For more information please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statements.