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Giant Payments Mastercard claims to have developed a new way to keep private cryptocurrency transactions.
According to a patent application published Thursday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the payment giant proposed a transaction system on a blockchain that would obscure both the point of origin and the amount subject to transaction.
As explained, the system would work using an intermediate address during a transaction that interacts with the public key. The transaction data is then archived, while a new transaction and a digital signature are generated using a private key. The new transaction data, which would contain the destination address and payment amount, will be sent.
The method "would result in showing to the user only the transfer of funds and the receipt of funds from a small number of addresses that are also involved in a considerable volume of transactions with various other users, thus making the data harmless", states l & # 39; archive.
Even amounts can be hidden through the use of multiple transfers using multiple addresses.
The application continues to note that blockchain platforms are increasingly used to conduct transactions, with users "flocking to various digital currencies" like bitcoins.
Some users prefer cryptocurrencies "for the anonymity that blockchain transactions can provide," says Mastercard, explaining that "in particular, it is often extremely difficult to identify the user behind a blockchain address, meaning that an individual can transfer or receive funds using a blockchain while maintaining a high level of anonymity. "
However, most of the blockchain registers are not actually anonymous. The application explicitly notes that transactions can be traced because of the "nature of the blockchain as an immutable ledger".
As a result, all transactions associated with a specific blockchain portfolio can be identified using public data.
Ultimately, users can be identified in this way, says the patent, explaining:
"For example, such data can, as it is accumulated and analyzed, reveal the user behind a portfolio or at least provide information about them … However, the structure of communications and the existing attribution of blockchain technology as bitcoin requires the identification of where transactions are emanating and terminating, in order to keep the register ".
"Therefore, there is a need for a technical solution to increase the anonymity of a portfolio and the user associated with it in a blockchain," concludes the application.
The patent application echoes the comments made by privacy-focused cryptocurrency supporters such as monero and zcash, which incorporate both features to hide the origin or destination of transactions as well as the total amount transferred.
While users may prefer anonymity when conducting transactions, the importance of coins such as Monero and Zcash has increased enough that government agencies such as the US Department of Homeland Security are looking for ways to track funds sent through private coins.
The agency published a pre-solicitation document earlier this week that included a proposal for the study of forensic analysis techniques to track transactions in secret coins.
Mastercard image via Alexander Yakimov / Shutterstock
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