For a species so intelligent, human beings have a pretty disappointing record at not making mistakes. This has already been reinforced quite a few times throughout our history, with each testimony practically forcing us to look for a defensive cover. We will, on our part, find the stated cover once we bring dedicated regulatory bodies into the fold. Having a well-defined authority across each and every area was a game-changer, as it wasted no time in giving us a cushion against our many flaws. Nevertheless, the resulting utopia will soon dissipate into thin air, and if we start talking about the reasons, we’ll quickly realize how it was all technology’s fault. Talk about why is that the case, the moment technology got its layered nature to take over the scene; it allowed every individual an unprecedented shot at exploiting others for their own benefit. In case the stated situation didn’t sound bad enough, the whole runner ended up materializing on such a massive scale that it expectantly overwhelmed our governing forces and sent them back to the drawing board. After a lengthy spell on the sidelines, though, it seems like the regulatory contingent is finally ready to put-together a comeback. This has only turned more and more evident over the recent past, and Mastercard’s latest move does a lot to keep that trend alive.
According to a report from the CNBC, Mastercard is officially set to launch a new and specialized security system, which is designed to help banks in identifying, and subsequently, blocking any transactions from fraud-prone crypto exchanges. Dubbed as Crypto Secure, the system uses what are “sophisticated” artificial intelligence algorithms to determine the risk of crime associated with crypto exchanges on the Mastercard payment network. Once this identification bit is done, the results are presented in the form of color-coded ratings. Nevertheless, while the system is well-equipped in regards to assessing risk, the decision to turn away a specific crypto merchant remains in the user’s hands.
“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 to digital asset transactions for consumers, banks and merchants,” said Ajay Bhalla, President of Mastercard’s Cyber and Intelligence unit.
The Crypto Secure’s emergence, notably enough, comes at a time when the digital asset market is really struggling to hold its own against growing cybercrime. In fact, Chainalysis claims that the amount of crypto entering wallets with known criminal connections surged to a record $14 billion in 2021, and if you are keeping up, you’d know that this year has done little to ease the stated pressure. However, given crypto’s tumbling stock price, the move seems to have more question marks than many think right now.
When quizzed regarding why Mastercard is bolstering its investment in crypto during what has proved to be a slump, Bhalla responded by saying:.
“These are market cycles, they will come and they will go,” he said. “I think you’ve got to take the longer view that this is a big marketplace now and evolving and is probably going to be much, much bigger in the future.”