Mastercard to roll out tool to detect fraud in Bitcoin transactions

The Mastercard payment network will launch the Crypto Secure tool. It will enable banks to identify and block transactions with crypto exchanges implicated in fraudulent practices, CNBC reports.

Crypto Secure was developed by CipherTrace, which became part of Mastercard in 2021.

The system uses “advanced” AI algorithms, blockchain data and other sources. Users are presented with a monitoring dashboard showing risk ratings for each transaction. The decision to approve or deny it lies with the payment-network partner itself.

Mastercard uses a similar technology to prevent fraud in fiat transactions.

Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard’s president for cybersecurity, declined to disclose exact figures on cryptocurrency-related transactions, noting that their number per minute already runs into the thousands.

Earlier, Visa said that users of cryptocurrency cards on the network carried out transactions worth $2.5 billion in October–December 2021.

In September, Visa participated in a $51.5 million funding round for Sardine, a platform for fraud detection.

According to Chainalysis, in 2021 the volume of crypto-related transactions linked to such illicit activity amounted to $14 billion.

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