Mastercard Turns to Blockchain for Cracking Down on Fake IDs

Mastercard’s (NYSE:MA) dip into the blockchain industry continues. 

Late last week (April 12), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) officially published the company’s filed patent for a blockchain solutions in order to store and verify identity data.  The company had initially filed the patent in September 2017.

According to the documents, Mastercard’s patent relates to “the storage and verification and identity and credential data” specifically as it relates to distributed storage and storage through blockchain specifically to protect identity data.

“The use of a blockchain for the storage of identity and credential data may provide for an immutable storage of such data that can provide accurate verification thereof and also prevent the fabrication of such data,” Mastercard said in the application.

The application further details ways the distributed storage of identity data on the blockchain system would eliminate potential attacks because data files would be associated with a public key and a geographical jurisdiction. At least one of the plural entities, Mastercard states, would be marked as being a “subordinate,” assigned by a digital signature of a “superior.”

Following that, a “hashing module” of the processing server would generate an “identity value” that would form a block with a time stamp, showing a record on each most recent block on the blockchain.

Mastercard stressed in its filing that the identities of individuals or “other type of entity” is important and that the need for a technical solution to provide for the “immutable storage of identity and credential data that may prevent fabrication and inaccuracies” is crucial.

The credit card company’s blockchain patent isn’t its only boost into the industry.  Late last year, Mastercard revealed its intentions to open up access to its blockchain technology through an API published on Mastercard Developers. The aim of the company’s blockchain solution is to provide new ways for its customers, businesses and banks to make transactions.

Mastercard also announced last Thursday its plans to hire more blockchain developers–175 in total–to work in its Ireland Mastercard office. According to the release, the new hires will include roles in software engineering, blockchain specialists, data scientists, project managers, analysts, product designers, cloud infrastructure specialists and information security analysts.

“We’re driving projects that promote financial inclusion at home and abroad, and are working to provide consumers, businesses and governments with the most innovative, safe and secure ways to pay,” Sonya Geelon, country manager at Mastercard Ireland said in the release.

In the days following Mastercard’s patent application and hiring announcement, shares of Mastercard have declined slightly, dropping from $175.90 on Thursday to $173.85 as of Monday’s (April 16) close.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.