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Mastercard has filed a patent for a method of anonymizing transactions on a blockchain, based on a question published by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on December 9th.
The filing outlines that "the use of one or more intermediary addresses to obscure the source and destination of funds in a blockchain transaction" may be used in order to "increase the anonymity of the entities associated with blockchain addresses" . The proposed technical solution would involve a series of "anonymity request[s]"Designed to make the transactions anonymous, rather than just the user behind every single portfolio.
This would entail "the user who transfers funds and receives funds from a limited number of addresses that are also involved in a considerable volume of transactions with various other users, thus making the data harmless". Portfolio analysis, Mastercard suggests, would therefore give "little or no information" to the user behind the portfolio.
As context, Mastercard notes that while many "flock" to various blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), to the perceived "high level" of anonymity they can provide, "the nature of the blockchain as an immutable ledger is in so that every transaction can "- in the final analysis -" be traced and brought back to the genesis block ".
This fact, Mastercard suggests "run[s] in contrast to the main goal of many users in the use of a blockchain: anonymity. "Blockchain data can, once accumulated and analyzed," reveal the user behind a portfolio or at least provide information about them, such as geographical location, interests, spending habits, etc. "The deposit continues to suggest that:
"The existing structure of communications and the assignment of blockchain technology like Bitcoin requires the identification of where transactions are issued and terminated, in order to keep the register.This creates a technical problem of interests competing at the 39; internal technology. "
Mastercard is by no means the first to address the limits of anonymity within blockchain systems; two high-profile privacy-focused altcoins, Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR), are both designed with similar concerns in mind.
ZEC uses ZKP (Zero-knowledge proofs) technology, an alternative algorithm to authenticate the entries in the distributed ledger, in which the parties performing transactions provide proof of validity, but all other information remains encrypted, including their identity. Monero, meanwhile, uses invisible addresses to mask identities by allowing a sender to create a unique random address based on the published address of the recipient of the transaction.
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