MasterCard Awarded Patent for Multicurrency Blockchain

By Chetna Phour

American multinational financial services corporation, Mastercard has been awarded a patent which will allow the company to launch different kinds of blockchains including those that support multiple currencies. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published the patent and explained that with the help of this product companies will be able to store different types of transaction information on a single platform. At this moment it is quite hard to do using a single blockchain.

Global lending and payment solution company MasterCard first filed for the patent in July 2016, way before the cryptocurrency craze. In the document, MasterCard explained that issues of storing different types of the transaction on a single platform. According to MasterCard, if a company has to manage several different currencies then it might need to run multiple blockchain platforms which are not convenient and it will also increase the operational cost of the company.

The patent says:

“There is a need for a technological solution to provide a partitioned blockchain that is capable of storing multiple transaction formats and types in a single blockchain, reducing the computing resources and processing power required for deployment and operation of the blockchain, while also providing  for enhanced usage of permission for permission blockchains.”

In the patent, partitions are referred to as “subnets” which would store information about different transaction types. It will allow one blockchain to receive information about different transaction types from different sources. This kind of blockchain will be more robust and have greater utility.

MasterCard has given clear indication that with this patent, the company has big plans to compete in the blockchain based payments marketplace.

Earlier this year, MasterCard also won a patent for the system which will speed up cryptocurrency payments. The company has also filed several other patents developed around the technology. MasterCard is showing a keen interest in the emerging blockchain technology and trying to develop blockchain related products which could be really useful.