Mastercard Debuts Blockchain Surveillance Tool for Banks and Crypto-Centric Card Issuers

On Tuesday, the multinational financial services corporation Mastercard revealed that it is launching a new crypto monitoring product called Crypto Secure. The Crypto Secure software aims to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in order to help banks and crypto-centric debit card issuers identify fraudulent crypto transactions.

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) has introduced a new piece of software that leverages blockchain surveillance tactics and AI to identify fraudulent crypto transactions. The finance company shared the news exclusively with CNBC and according to the firm, the new software was developed by Ciphertrace. The blockchain intelligence company Ciphertrace was acquired by Mastercard last year. “Our two companies share this vision to provide security and trust throughout the ecosystem,” Dave Jevans, the CEO of Ciphertrace said at the time.

The new Crypto Secure software will provide financial institutions and crypto-centric debit card issuers with a dashboard that identifies blockchain activity and suspicious transactions. Essentially, the blockchain monitoring software leverages color-coded signals with different levels of suspicious activity. According to Mastercard, the software doesn’t do anything but warn the financial services provider, while banks and card issuers must make the judgment call.

“The idea is that the kind of trust we provide for digital commerce transactions, we want to be able to provide the same kind of trust to digital asset transactions for consumers, banks, and merchants,” Ajay Bhalla, the president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard told CNBC. Bhalla added:

The whole digital asset market is now a pretty large, substantial market.

Mastercard says that the company already utilizes software that monitors traditional finance applications and assets, and the new Crypto Secure platform is dedicated to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). Mastercard’s president of cyber and intelligence was also asked about the crypto economy’s recent downturn, and Bhalla stressed that the financial services corporation was more “focused on providing solutions to the stakeholders for the long term.”

“These are market cycles, they will come and they will go,” Bhalla concluded. “I think you’ve got to take the longer view that this is a big marketplace now and evolving and is probably going to be much, much bigger in the future.”

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