Mastercard Patents Blockchain tech to fight against Fake Identities

Mastercard has filed a patent on April 12^th in an application released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that describes a system in which a semi-private or private blockchain would be used to receive and store identity data.

According to Mastercard "The use of a blockchain for the storage of identity and credential data may provide for an immutable storage of such data that can provide an accurate verification thereof and also prevent the fabrication of such data."

The filing explains that the system would generate a "data file" for each entity, which would be associated with a public key and a "geographic jurisdiction." These entities would be "subordinate," while a "superior" entity would impose a digital signature on their data files. A "hashing module of the processing server" would subsequently generate an "identity value" for each entity and create a block with a timestamp and a record of the most recent block added to the blockchain.

The Mastercard-approved nodes are the only ones that can update the identity information within the system. The proposed system could possibly replace other means of proving identity that may be susceptible to fabrication and inaccuracies.

Mastercard states "In such instances, it may be difficult for an entity to disprove a false identity, leading to an interaction with an inauthentic individual or entity. Thus, there is a need for a technical solution to provide for the immutable storage of identity and credential data that may prevent fabrication and inaccuracies."