A giant among transnational financial services, MasterCard, has filed a patent application.an international virtual consumer basket that also includes bitcoin.</strong>
Application entitled “Interchangeable Settlements inInternational Consumer Basket, ”was initiated by the company’s New York office and sent to the US Patent and Trademark Office in March 2013 for review.
Submission of patent registration documents is one of MasterCard’s many steps aimed at creating an international online basket for the convenience of online shoppers.
The international shopping cart combinesseparate carts for each store, allowing users to create larger orders to support larger projects, such as weddings or renovations.
A MasterCard representative reports:
Every day we take new steps tomake the purchase process more convenient. The use of this technology [Bitcoin] is just one such example, demonstrating a certain level of flexibility regarding the sources of payment for the content of consumer baskets. ”
However, as the company representative added, the patent does not imply any special support or incentive for the use of Bitcoin specifically.
The application will be registered in order to protect the intellectual property of the company and does not mean commitment to any ideas.
The version of the patent published on June 19 has not yet received approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Alternative payment methods
The registration application noted that the implementation of an international shopping basket would require a new exchange service that would support a variety of payment methods.
MasterCard included bitcoins in the application under the general term “non-standard methods and sources of payments”.
Interchangeable payments using oneand more payment methods or sources, may include cloud-based payment schemes, e-wallets, sales terminals and non-traditional methods and sources of payments. ”
Further in the text of the application the concept of “non-traditionalmethods and sources of payments" is disclosed: in the definition of barter transactions, the list includes, among other things, "virtual currencies, bitcoins, social media rewards points, automated clearing transactions and coupons."
Bitcoin wallet support
Representatives of MasterCard also explain that the system supports a large number of different payment methods using the “API structure flexible enough to support convertible payments”.
Upon request, the API will be able to connect to Bitcoin, as well as other digital wallets such as MasterPass, GoogleWallet, PayPal, and potentially others that Bitcoin startups are implementing.
The text of the application for registration of a patent mentions Bitcoin among other services available to choose from:
APIsupports interfaces for non-traditional payment services that pay in virtual currencyAmazon, award points, bitcoins, using virtual cards, etc. ”
Battles for the Bitcoin patent
By filing a patent registration application foruse of electronic currencies, MasterCard, a well-known issuer of bank cards, has joined the list of traditional financial companies that have embarked on the path of patent protection for various electronic payments, which already includes Gemalto, Visa and Western Union.
However, despite the anxiety among bitcoiners provoked by the news about patenting, it remains unclear where and what danger should be expected in case of patent registration.
: Coindesk Author: Pete Rizzo
Read this:
Visa, eBay and Mastercard have left Libra. Uber and Lyft remain in the project from Facebook
Visa and Mastercard leave Libra project
Startup Revolut partnered with Mastercard to issue debit cards in the USA
The largest bank in Canada has filed a patent to launch a cryptocurrency exchange
Sberbank received a patent for repo transactions on the blockchain
Cash bonuses: can altcoins compete with Bitcoin?