MasterCard reveals internal distributed ledger technology
(31 October 2016 – Global) MasterCard has unveiled its own blockchain as it seeks to use the technology in payments and trade finance.
The announcement follows that of the payment service providers’ rival Visa releasing an open-source version of the distributed ledger technology, Chain.
MasterCard’s version is currently at the testing stage and is slated to offer smart contracts – scriptable transactions that automate business flows and reduce manual intervention; and scalability – namely MasterCard’s “proof of audit” consensus mechanism which brings commercial processing speed and extensibility to the blockchain.
In terms of APIs, users can run their own blockchain nodes, define transaction types and manage participation in a blockchain network. It will also offer the ability to write custom scripts, do real-time reconciliation and execute settlement.
On its developer site, MasterCard is inviting interested parties to view more documentation or get in touch.
Subscribe