Mastercard doubles down on effort to detect and tackle crypto fraud with AI tie-up

cnbc.com:

Mastercard is doubling down on its efforts to detect and prevent fraud that's routed through cryptocurrency exchanges.

The company told CNBC exclusively that it's partnered with Feedzai, a regulatory technology platform that aims to combat money laundering and financial scams online using artificial intelligence.

Through the partnership, Feedzai will integrate directly with Mastercard's CipherTrace Armada platform, which is used to help banks monitor transactions from over 6,000 crypto exchanges for fraud, money laundering and other suspicious activity.

CipherTrace Armada will be embedded directly in Feedzai's technology, rather than accessed through an API, or application programming interface, with Feedzai «inhaling» the data to enable real-time alerts about suspicious crypto transactions.

«This will increase fraud detection by protecting unwary consumers, but will also detect potential money laundering activity and mule accounts,» Feedzai CEO and co-founder Nuno Sebastio told CNBC. Mule accounts are accounts of users that fraudsters exploit to launder their ill-gotten funds.

An estimated 40% of scam transactions exit directly from a bank account to a crypto exchange today, according to Feedzai data.

The tie-up will also give Mastercard access to Feedzai's artificial intelligence smarts. Feedzai says its software can identify and block suspicious transactions in a matter of nanoseconds — but also recognize transactions that are legitimate.

Feedzai's RiskOps platform analyzes transactions worth over $1.7 trillion annually. Co-headquartered in Coimbra, in Portugal, and San Mateo, California, in Silicon Valley, the firm holds close to 100 patents and secures an average of 10 patents per year to safeguard its technology.