Central banks and financial behemoths have been actively exploring blockchain technology despite the crisis in the crypto market. Nowadays, digital currencies are going through dire straits, while investors are worried about obscure prospects. Still, the doom and gloom in the crypto market does not devalue the technology as such. Established financial giants MasterCard, JPMorgan, and others have gladly adopted blockchain technology, betting on its wider application in the future. Companies assign appropriate personnel and allocate hefty money for the development of the new direction.
“There will always be new payment technology,” Michael Miebach, chief executive of Mastercard, commented on blockchain. “First there were cards using ISO 8583 messaging technology, which is 50 years old, then real-time payments became real with ISO 20022. And then came blockchain, and we said okay, what would that solve? There’s a whole set of real-life problems out there that blockchain can solve.”
The CEO of the world’s second-largest payments company is certain that blockchain is a great solution to shady transactions. Tokenization at Mastercard means that the 16-digit number on a plastic bank card is replaced with a unique digital code for every transaction. Interestingly, personal data, for instance, a credit card number cannot be stolen and stored by a seller.
MasterCard is currently working with banks and retailers to tokenize an array of assets, including deposits, which will be tracked on multiple public and private ledgers. “You can tokenize anything,” Miebach says. “I think we’re going to have a world where everything will be tokenized and will be passed around in a safe fashion.”
