Global financial services major Mastercard has introduced a new Web3 solution targeted at increasing user authentication requirements and “reducing the opportunities for bad actors” in the digital asset industry — called the “Mastercard Crypto Credential”.
The company explained that it was “building a way for Web3 and blockchain service providers to help secure transactions between users, verified according to standards set by Mastercard” in an explanation video that was also posted to Twitter.
Consumers will receive a “Mastercard crypto credential unique identifier,” which is designed to enable individuals to instantaneously check that an address they wish to send money to has been approved by Mastercard and has been functioning in accordance with the company’s standards.
According to Mastercard, the solution is also geared at enhancing compliance through the sharing of essential metadata, which is necessary to comply with legislation. This should help minimise the potential for bad actors and the danger of money being irreversibly lost.
As a result, even if malicious parties manage to obtain a unique identification and get away with it, Mastercard can promptly rescind their verification if they are caught taking part in illegal behaviour.
Over the past few years, Mastercard has steadily increased its exposure to the cryptocurrency industry. The most recent announcement was made not long after it collaborated with Polygon to develop a nonfungible token (NFT) gated musician accelerator programme.
