Leading payments company Mastercard has announced its plans to open up access to its blockchain technology via its API published on Mastercard Developers.

With this proprietary solution, Mastercard aims to create new benefits for its partners and make the commerce ecosystem easier, faster and safer. In its press release, the company said that the solution will complement its existing capabilities including virtual cards, Mastercard Send and Vocalink to support all types of cross-border, B2B payment flows – account-based, blockchain-based and card-based.

The blockchain technology offers a new way for consumers, businesses, and banks to transact. It has been tested and validated and will initially be implemented in the business-to-business (B2B) space to address challenges of speed, transparency, and costs in cross-border payments.

“By combining Mastercard blockchain technology with our settlement network and associated network rules, we have created a solution that is safe, secure, auditable and easy to scale,” said Ken Moore, executive vice president, Mastercard Labs. “When it comes to payments, we want to provide choice and flexibility to our partners where they are able to seamlessly use both our existing and new payment rails based on the needs and requirements of their customers.”

Mastercard blockchain will ensure privacy, flexibility, scalability, and reach of the company’s settlement network. It has the ability to power secure and seamless non-card payment transactions such as business-to-business payments and trade finance transactions, as well as non- payment solutions such as proof of provenance that helps authenticate products across the supply chain.

In addition to building a new solution, Mastercard has also filed for over 35 patents in blockchain, invested in Digital Currency Group, and joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to explore the possibilities of the Ethereum technology across a wide range of potential use cases.