Mastercard Launches Crypto Secure to Combat Digital Asset Fraud

Mastercard Launches Crypto Secure to Combat Digital Asset Fraud

The multinational financial services corporation Mastercard revealed on Tuesday that it is launching a new crypto monitoring product called Crypto Secure. The Crypto Secure software uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to help banks and crypto-based debit card issuers identify fraudulent crypto transactions.

MasterCard and CipherTrace Introduce New Crypto Monitoring Tool

Mastercard has introduced new software that uses blockchain surveillance and AI to identify fraudulent crypto transactions. The finance company released the news exclusively on CNBC. The new software has been developed by CipherTrace. The blockchain intelligence company CipherTrace was acquired by MasterCard last year. "Our two companies share this vision to provide security and trust throughout the ecosystem," said Dave Jevans, the CEO of CipherTrace.

The new Crypto Secure software will provide financial institutions and crypto-based debit card issuers with a dashboard that identifies blockchain activity and suspicious transactions. Essentially, the blockchain monitoring software uses color-coded signals for different levels of suspicious activity. The software warns the financial services provider, while banks and card issuers must make the judgments call as reported by MasterCard.

"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 for digital asset transactions for consumers, banks, and merchants," Ajay Bhalla, the President of Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard, told CNBC. Bhalla added:

"The whole digital asset market is now a pretty large, substantial market."

Mastercard says that the company already utilizes software that monitors traditional finance applications and assets, and the new Crypto Secure platform is dedicated to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The President of Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard was also asked about the crypto economy’s recent downturn, and Bhalla explained that the financial services corporation was more "focused on providing solutions to the stakeholders for the long term."

"These are market cycles that will come and they will go," Bhalla concluded. "I think you’ve got to take the longer view that this is a big marketplace now that is evolving and is probably going to be much, much bigger in the future."