Mastercard Pilots Crypto Credential Product as It Aims to Simply Digital Asset Transfers

Quick take:

• The product supports sending and receiving cross-border and domestic transfers across multiple currencies and blockchains. 
• The company also unveiled its latest partner, Foxbit as the crypto wallet provider joined its Crypto Credential pilot ecosystem.
• Crypto Credentials help verify blockchain transactions between users, eliminating the complexity created by long crypto wallet addresses.

Mastercard has piloted real-world application of its Crypto Credentials product, completing peer-to-peer transactions on selected crypto exchange platforms. 

Described as a set of common standards and infrastructure that will help verify interactions among consumers and businesses using blockchain networks. It provides the assurance that the user has met a set of verification standards and confirms that the recipient’s wallet supports the transferred asset, the company said in a press release.

One of the few uninspiring aspects of cryptocurrency occurs when sending and receiving digital assets, with users having to copy the entire crypto address and provide the network details and the details of the asset being transferred.

This creates complex processes, which can be exploited by attackers. Earlier this month, a crypto user was exploited for $69 million through address poisoning, a tactic that tricks victims into sending cryptocurrency to the wrong address by mimicking the first and the last six characters of the actual address.

According to Mastercard, Mastercard Crypto Credential eliminates the complexity of a consumer knowing which assets or chains are supported by the person they are looking to send funds to, bringing more trust and certainty to these transactions. 

The product is already live on Bit2Me, Lirium and Mercado Bitcoin exchanges while crypto wallet provider Foxbit is the latest to join the Crypto Credential pilot ecosystem.

Mastercard said the product will initially be available in Europe and Latin America, enabling users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay to to send cross-border and domestic transfers across multiple currencies and blockchains. 

Describing the princess of ensuring the security of users, Mastercard said the first thing it does is verify the user under the Mastercard Crypto Credentials standards, after which they are allowed to choose an alias.

The product verifies the recipient alias is authentic whenever a user initiates a transaction, also confirming that the recipient’s wallet supports the digital asset and the chain being used.

If any of those conditions are not met, the sender is notified, and the transaction does not proceed.

Commenting on the announcement, Walter Pimenta, executive vice president of Product and Engineering, Latin America and the Caribbean at Mastercard said in a statement: “As interest in blockchain and digital assets continues to surge in Latin America and around the world, it is essential to keep delivering trusted and verifiable interactions across public blockchain networks.”

The company said the Mastercard Crypto Credential product will initially be offered on a first-come-first-served basis to a select group of crypto wallet users, before rolling out to more than 7 million users across the participating exchanges over the coming months.

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