Tech
Mastercard’s new “Crypto Credential” service aims to simplify crypto transfers
MasterCard unveiled its new “Crypto Credential” service, which aims to simplify peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers by replacing addresses with simple aliases.
The service announced in a May 29 Press release, has already launched and allows users of participating cryptocurrency exchanges to send and receive digital assets using an intuitive alias. This is supposedly a less confusing alternative to long, complex alphanumeric blockchain addresses that are difficult to distinguish from each other. The company he wrote in a tweet:
Mastercard Crypto Credential has launched with its first peer-to-peer transactions! This solution not only replaces complex wallet addresses with easy-to-use aliases, but also makes sending #blockchain transactions safe, transparent, and accessible.
The approach
The Crypto Credential service verifies users and assigns them an alias. When users send their cryptocurrency, the software checks the validity of the alias and ensures protocol compatibility before sending the assets.
If the recipient’s address is not compatible with the goods sent, the transaction will not be processed. This would avoid the loss of funds due to user error, a common occurrence in the crypto industry. Aliases could also protect against address poisoning scams, in which attackers trick wallet users into sending coins to a similar-looking address.
Like ReadWrite reported earlier this month, a cryptocurrency trader recently fell victim to a sophisticated “address poisoning” scam, resulting in the loss of tens of millions of dollars. This type of scam sees scammers create fake accounts that mimic the last and first characters of a victim’s address.
Due to their confusing and lengthy nature, it is common practice to check only the first and last characters of an address before sending resources. Therefore, by interacting with the victim with similar addresses, the victim is likely to mistakenly send to one of those addresses.
Currently, the Crypto Credential service is available on Bit2Me, Lirium, and Mercado Bitcoin exchanges, with a notable lack of adoption from major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. The service will soon be implemented in Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay, with other European countries to be added in the future. Martin Kopacz, Chief Operating Officer of Lirium, said:
With Mastercard Crypto Credential, we can ensure the traceability of all blockchain transactions with a higher level of compliance, while providing an exceptional user experience.