Mastercard, one of the biggest players in the payments industry, has announced the launch of Crypto Secure. Crypto Secure is a new software product that is designed to help banks and other card issuers identify and block suspicious transactions from cryptocurrency exchanges, reports CNBC.
It is a system developed by Mastercard that uses “sophisticated” artificial intelligence algorithms to determine whether or not there is a risk of cyber-crime associated with crypto exchanges on the Mastercard payments network through a method known as Crypto Secure. In order for the system to work, it uses data from the blockchain, which is a public record of crypto transactions, as well as other sources of information.
According to the report, the platform provides a dashboard with color-coded ratings representing the risk of suspicious activity, with the severity of the risk ranging from red for “high” to green for “low,” based on the severity of the risk.
Mastercard has launched its new service in the context of growing crime in the nascent digital asset market as a result of its launch. Last year, according to data from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the amount of crypto entering wallets with known criminal connections hit a record high of $14 billion. Additionally, there has been a spate of high-profile hacks and scams targeting crypto investors in 2022.
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, President of cyber and intelligence – Mastercard
A similar technology is already being used by Mastercard to prevent fraud in transactions involving fiat currencies. As part of the Crypto Secure program, it is expanding such functionality to bitcoin and other virtual currencies as well. According to Ajay Bhalla, mastercard’s president of cyber and intelligence business, the move is designed to ensure Mastercard’s partners can “stay compliant with the complex regulatory landscape in which they operate”.
