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In a big announcement that pushed the crypto market significantly higher on Tuesday, Mastercard is offering the ability to send business to business money transfers over its own version of blockhain technology to certain banks and merchants its network. To be certain, Mastercard is not introducing its own cryptocurrency but rather fiat alone.
A number of corporations have already signed up to use Mastercard’s blockchain, Pinkham says, though he declined to name any of them. Besides payments, Mastercard envisions that companies could use its blockchain to track the movement of pharmaceuticals as well as luxury goods such as handbags and diamonds, thereby reducing fraud by providing “proof of provenance.” But consumers won’t be able to pay with the Mastercard blockchain instead of plastic, at least not anytime soon, he says. Nor does he see bitcoin as a threat to Mastercard in general. “Quite frankly, we feel that card payments are simple, safe and easier to use—and better meet the needs of consumers—than, let’s say, a cryptocurrency payment,” Pinkham adds.
http://fortune.com/2017/10/20/mastercard-blockchain-bitcoin/
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