Mastercard, the Financial services giant has bagged a patent for a system that uses blockchain technology to authenticate coupons.

MasterCard is a leading global payments & technology company that connects consumers, businesses, merchants, issuers & governments around the world

The patent, granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 31, outlines a way for merchants to curb coupon fraud and more effectively issue targeted discounts to specific customers. It was initially applied for the patent back in Nov. 2016.

The predominant feature of this potential application is that an individual would be allocated a blockchain address, whose credentials would be preserved in a payment instrument such as a credit card or digital wallet application.

On user’s attempts to redeem the coupon, the point of sale device will interface with the private blockchain network to verify that the customer is potentially approved to receive the discount.

Subsequently, upon a successful transaction, the transfer the coupon would automatically be executed of the customer’s wallet and into “burn address” or an address associated with invalidated coupons, preventing the user from attempting to redeem it multiple times.

The system is exclusively intended to assist merchants preventing coupon fraud, but MasterCard envisages that it would benefit consumers as well because it would provide businesses with the ability to issue more valuable coupons with the assurance that the discounts could not be counterfeited or redeemed by unauthorized users.

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