According to open sources, Mastercard is examining the public blockchain in order to use it to secure verification of payment cards at points of sale.
According to the application, published on 7 June by the Office of patents and trademarks USA (USPTO), Mastercard has developed technological methods of transmitting data and receiving them back to confirm the user credentials to “public and accessible on the blockchain”.
The application explains that a bilateral method of transmitting and receiving first encodes the image of the payment card, and then stores it in the blockchain encrypted using public and private key. During the payment process, after the request data, the system will use the respective secret keys for decryption of the image so that it can check.
Mastercard said that the integration of such system with payment terminals ensure secure transactions, as it will not be necessary to illuminate and scan the card, and users will not have to worry about copying billing information from the magnetic strip of the card through the so-called “skimmers” — a fake POS terminals or mounted scanners for ATMs that use the attackers (“carders”) to steal funds from other cards.
Mastercard writes in his application:
The transaction may be conducted through the submission of machine-readable code device cash services, which further protects against “skimming”, as the reading of such a code is possible only with the display, which is easily hidden, often staying in the pocket or purse.
Regardless of whether such a product is implemented, its design is a significant step for Mastercard, which aims to use the public blockchain and can solve the security problems associated with payment cards. Some sources claim, due to theft of card data at ATMs and points of cash service users annually lose about $2 billion.
Another interesting patent Mastercard proposed the creation of blockchain system that allows customers to broadcast their travel itineraries and bookings for trading companies. Such information will help the latter to offer their services to potential clients through the blockchain. This approach can also fundamentally change the existing model, which usually involved aggregators of hotels and tickets.
In late may, Mastercard has also filed a patent on the blockchain, a system designed to prevent fraud with consumer coupons.
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