Mastercard rolls out Crypto Credential service to strengthen trust in blockchain ecosystem
Payments giant Mastercard has launched its new Crypto Credential service in a bid to boost trust in blockchain networks for consumers and businesses.
Mastercard says Crypto Credential has been developed to “establish a set of common standards and infrastructure that will help attest trusted interactions among consumers and businesses using blockchain networks”.
The standards will help users verify blockchain-based transactions, with Mastercard also providing the technology necessary for those wishing to interact across Web3 environments.
The firm says trust is “critical” if blockchain is to reach its full potential, while a lack of robust protections and standards has often eroded the trust of consumers, businesses and governments.
The programme provides “straightforward” alias’ to help consumers share wallet addresses and reduce the potential for error. It will leverage metadata to define wallet attributes to ensure appropriate transactions are conducted and utilise Ciphertrace to verify addresses and support “travel rule” compliance for cross-border transactions.
Crypto wallet providers Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado Bitcoin and Uphold are also working with Mastercard on a project to enable transfers between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mastercard has also tapped public blockchain network organisations Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Polygon Labs and The Solana Foundation to bring Mastercard Crypto Credential to application developers in their ecosystems.
“Together, we’ll collaborate to enhance verification in NFTs, ticketing, enterprise and other payments solutions,” says Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president for blockchain, digital asset products and digital partnerships.