The second largest payment system in the world intends to implement blockchain into many of its services, but until now its blockchain laboratory brings only losses to Mastercard.

Mastercard reveals details of its department in Dublin

The Mastercard Laboratory, located in the capital of Ireland and engaged in the study of digital technologies, blockchain and artificial intelligence, explores the possibilities of digital technologies and their applications in payment systems, but also in a variety of other services.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Ken Moore, who leads Mastercard’s R&D initiatives globally, noted that the goal of the laboratory is to go beyond the technologies that are now surrounded by hype, and to develop real grounded services based on the latest technologies that would be run not only in payment systems.

Despite the overall technological success, the laboratory still brings losses. Moore explains that this is due to the fact that the division is not focused on making a profit, but aims to develop new applications.

“We build new products for Mastercard globally out of Dublin so we incur the costs for that in Ireland even though the services we provide are global,” he said.

According to Moore, the research and development wing of Mastercard is one of the most successful in the company: “We’re very much seen as a success story due and are increasingly growing in relevance.”

Mastercard outperforms VISA

At the end of 2017, Mastercard announced the launch of a specialized blockchain API. The solution is designed to simplify the process of international settlements. The blockchain-based solution will be part of the Mastercard payment system and is expected to be integrated into other services in the future.

In April 2018, Mastercard increased the number of blockchain developers in its departments. The company hired 175 developers in the Irish office of Mastercard Labs.