MasterCard Announces Blockchain B2B Payments Despite Rejection of Bitcoin

MasterCard recently announced a way for businesses to make direct business to business (B2B) payments over their Blockchain technology-based network. The company has dubbed its offering “MasterCard Blockchain API,” and it will be debuted at the Money 20/20 Hackathon in Las Vegas in a few days.

Testing and validation have been completed, and the tech will officially be ready for customers’ use beginning next week. The announcement is a bit ironic after the company’s wholesale rejection of Bitcoin. I guess as the old saying goes, “monkey see, monkey do.”

Advantage Blockchain
Blockchain technology has been raised as an excellent option for B2B transfers for a multitude of reasons. Blockchain transfers are fully private and secure, while at the same time offering flexibility and scalability for business transactions. According to one executive:

“By combining Mastercard Blockchain technology with our settlement network and associated network rules, we have created a solution that is safe, secure, auditable and easy to scale.”

While the solution is a major coup for Blockchain technology in general, the credit giant’s announcement may be seen as copycatting the technology of other systems and platforms. Blockchain technology has, until the past couple of years, been relegated to the fringes of the tech conversation. The sudden interest and application from enterprise-level corporations shows an awareness of the power of the systems already designed by other companies.