MasterCard, an American financial services mogul was finally granted a patent on October 9. The legal protection will enable MasterCard to partition Blockchain with a purpose to store countless transaction types in multiple formats. The elements & details of this new system, which is not new for MasterCard, is announced by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in its published filing.

What Is The Need Of Blockchain Partition?

If I may put in simple words, there are different types of blockchain and each one of them stores their transactions in separate blocks. For example, Bitcoin requires one kind of system to store & record its data on the blockchain and on the other hand, Ethereum feeds on alternative metrics.

To portray a clearer picture, just imagine an agency that wants to use blockchain technology for utilizing multiple cryptocurrencies or to store various types of data for their business. Nevertheless, they might even face problems storing a heap of different data originating from different blockchains and cryptocurrencies and, therefore, they will have to run different blockchains. As per the patent’s filing done recently, the transaction record should necessarily have the same data sizes and similar formats. Consequently, this company will have to bear all the additional costs, resources, and computing powers involved.

This complication is eventually caused due to the varying degrees of open-access or permissioned blockchains. Further to this, there is non-permissioned blockchain as well that permits anyone to be a part of it or merely view the record-- just like the aforementioned ETH and BTC along with their public ledgers. On the other hand, they can simultaneously be morphed into permissioned blockchains but that demands special permissions to access, read, and write information on them. The industry-level corporations use them commonly as they specifically focus on identity and security.

Well, Mastercard’s patent said that the difference and inflexibility of blockchains with respect to the data formatting restricts the implementation of permissions on permissioned blockchains. However, the new patent filing removes that issue as their partitioned blockchain would provide enhanced usage of permissions.

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So How Will The New MasterCard Framework Function?

MasterCard’s new system is devised to use ‘subnets’ that will permit blockchains to receive data from a series of blocks. This will also enhance the blockchain’s utility and will expand further.

Since ‘Subnets’ are ideally proposed partitions, they would enable interactions in a wider, single system and would be internally consistent. Moreover, a ‘subnet’ is a partition of huge networks into smaller fragments of the network which is aimed at improving its efficiency.

Subnets will be able to store data of any type and size and will be able to receive any format of data without following a standardized norm. Despite all this, the number of subnets will only be limited to three.

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The Multi-Blockchain Plan Of MasterCard

The first application of Microsoft’s patent was made in July 2016, no doubt it is a time taking process. Although the patent office takes up to 18 months for publishing the applications after they are filed, however, it can take years to conclude if the permission has to be granted.

Also, formulating blockchain-related patents does not essentially mean that MasterCard will go on creating new systems. These activities by a financial service provider only reflect its interest in the ground-breaking technology. Although many other companies are still struggling to find a new place in this tech area, MasterCard has safely secured some major part of the market with multi-blockchain and a hefty number of patents.

Summing up, I believe that blockchain technology is still unexplored and holds massive potential to serve multiple industries and sectors. If you are also looking to step into it, you can contact our Blockchain Developers at Oodles Technologies and implement their expertise into your services at affordable prices!