Mastercard Set to Tackle Cybercrime with Risk Assessment Tool

Mastercard is now offering crypto risk assessment system Crypto Secure for its bank and card issuers customers. Powered by CipherTrace purchased last year, Mastercard provides a dashboard that indicates the riskiness of certain crypto merchants using a color-coded system.

In order to increase the security of purchasing cryptocurrencies, payments giant Mastercard (MA) is launching a new tool that lets issuers evaluate the risk profile of cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to a Tuesday press release, “Crypto Secure” would use the knowledge and innovation of CipherTrace, a blockchain security company that Mastercard purchased last year, to assist card issuers in determining the risk profile of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Users may find it simpler to purchase cryptocurrency if card issuers are relieved of the burden of using a uniform standard for authorizing or rejecting transactions. Crypto Secure will present issuers with a dashboard that identifies exchanges, measures transaction approval and decline rates and provides a benchmark rating for comparison to a peer group of financial institutions. 

The new service is Mastercard’s most recent entry into the burgeoning cryptocurrency market. It teamed up with digital asset platform Bakkt in October to enable American businesses and banks to integrate cryptocurrency into their products via Bakkt-powered custodial wallets and cryptocurrency debit and credit cards.

Powered by CipherTrace

CipherTrace, a blockchain security business that Mastercard purchased a year ago to improve its crypto-related security, will fuel the recently acquired startup Crypto Secure.  The Menlo Park-based startup assisted companies and government organizations look into unauthorized cryptocurrency transactions by using its cutting-edge data analytics and algorithms. Elliptic, situated in London, is a competitor of CipherTrace in addition to Chainalysis, based in New York.

Following a number of other comparable investments the business has made in the area of digital assets, Mastercard purchased CipherTrace. These included developing crypto cards via collaborations with BitPay, Uphold, and Gemini as well as developing new testing and support platforms for stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, and even digital currencies issued by central banks.