Mastercard to boost crypto-transaction monitoring with Feedzai

The payments giant Mastercard has agreed to work with regtech platform Feedzai to integrate its tools into a bank-oriented productCipherTrace Armade. According to CNBC.

CipherTrace Armade tracks operations across 6,000 crypto platforms to perform AML and anti-scam efforts.

Feedzai, using AI, will enable real-time alerts about suspicious crypto transactions and block them “in a matter of nanoseconds.”

The firm holds around 100 patents and, on average, increases their number by about 10 per year to protect its technologies.

CEO and co-founder Nuno Sebastiao said that the algorithms can identify criminals’ accounts used to launder illegally obtained funds.

According to the company, about 40% of such transfers originate directly from a bank account to an exchange. Over the last year the platform processed transactions totaling more than $1.7 trillion.

“There are many examples where banks, in order to prevent illicit activity, block those involving widely recognised and regulated organisations, and let the rest through,” said Sebastiao.

According to the agency, the Mastercard partnership marks the firm’s foray into the market to legitimise digital assets, which could fall under the same rules and compliance frameworks as traditional finance TradFi.

“Data shows that fraud in transactions when people buy cryptocurrency is five times higher than in those where fiat is used,” said Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard’s President of Cybersecurity Solutions.

The executive said that the partnership with Feedzai will allow financial institutions to distinguish “good” transactions from “bad” ones.

In October 2022, Mastercard announced the Crypto Secure tool. It enables banks to identify and halt transactions with crypto exchanges exposed to fraudulent practices.

In July 2023, the company’s Chief Digital Officer Jorn Lambert said there is a need to unite blockchain and TradFi.

That was preceded by plans to position the company as an intermediary for traditional financial institutions in launching cryptocurrency trading.