Mastercard, the financial services giant, was granted several new patent approvals this week regarding implementation of several blockchain technologies into their existing network.

One particular patent has raised many eyebrows as it outlines a system where anonymous transactions are facilitated over a blockchain network. The company first applied for this patent back in December 2016.

MasterCard plans to utilize this technology without the use of crypto privacy coins (Monero or Zcash). Their proposed system relies on a third party processing server which would maintain a database of unique entity profiles. Each profile would include a string of secret data along with identifying information.

After receiving transaction details, the processing server would create two hash values. The first hash value would include transaction details. The second hash value would combine the first hash with the secret value from the entity profile.

The resulting has hash value can then be published to a blockchain ledger in order to validate the integrity of the transactions without revealing specific details.

As reported by CCJ, MasterCard has also won a variety of different blockchain patents over the last several weeks.

Back in May, the company was awarded a patent to manage coupon authentication via blockchain to cut down on coupon fraud. Another patent granted this month, aims to increase the efficiency of travel itinerary bidding along with lowering prices.

TransferGo now lets customers buy and sell five major cryptocurrencies –– Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum(ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).

According to TransferGo CEO and founder Daumantas Dvilinskas, the crypto trading option was launched “in response to demand from our user base”:

Founded in 2012, TransferGo currently has “over 600,000” registered users and is partnered with thirty banks.

A remittance is the transfer of money from a foreign worker to another individual across international borders. In 2017, global remittance flows to developing countries reached a massive $466 billion.

Earlier this week, the CEO of payment giant Mastercard Ajaypal Banga smashed decentralized cryptocurrencies –– as opposed to state-issued calling them “junk.” Banga accused cryptocurrencies of “wild” volatility, claiming they do not “deserve” to be considered a medium of exchange.

Previously in June, Qiwi Blockchain Teсhnologies (QBT), a subsidiary of major Russian fiat payment service provider Qiwi, reportedly launched a crypto investment bank built on a “classic investment banking model.” According to the firm’s CFO, the upcoming HASH platform will start offering crypto trading services in 2019, after the company obtains necessary licensing.

BoA’s patent filing proposes using blockchain for tracking resource information and confirming resource transfers, noting that

The patent describes how the system would record information on the blockchain based on “aggregated information associated with past transfer of resources executed by an entity,” and would update the information on the blockchain with each new transaction activity.

In April, the USPTO had published another patent from BoA for a blockchain-based storage system. According to Fortune, BoA currently has 45 live patents related to blockchain pending, with the bank’s CTO noting that the amassing of patents allows the bank to be “prepared.”

At the same time, the BoA has become infamous for its distaste for cryptocurrency, in May calling Bitcoin (BTC) “troubling” while upholding a previous decision to ban its customers from purchasing crypto using credit cards.

Despite its apparent foresight in the blockchain sphere, BoA is not without its competitors, Mastercard this week unveiling a patent of its own allowing transactions of what it calls “blockchain currencies.”

Volkswagen has applied for a patent allowing vehicles to communicate with each other through a blockchain-based network aimed to increase road safety by warning of nearby vehicles and alerting the driver to potential collisions.

The system could potentially be used to negotiate actions like merging lanes, overtaking, and a number of other high-risk activities on the road.

“In Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication messages are exchanged between vehicles to enable novel safety-relevant use cases. Most of the currently known use cases provide warnings to alert a driver about an imminent event, such as two vehicles colliding with each other,” read an excerpt from the patent. “To this end, Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication is based on single messages, which are signed by the sending vehicle.

The signature provides integrity and non-repudiation. A natural extension to safety warnings are cooperative manuevers, which allow increasing both safety and efficiency of road usage.”

The patent deals with self-driven and manually-driven cars and aims to either display information for a driver to see or simply inform self-driving cars on their next move. A cooperative inter-driver contract is described which will allow drivers to enter agreements aimed to increase their road safety.

The crux of the patent is the concept of exchanging inter-vehicular messages which are cryptographically signed and serve to create a network of nearby cars in order to better avoid collisions and work with the flow of traffic.

The patent explains that messages are first exchanged between one vehicle and another, with each message containing a “hash pointer” which indicates where relevant information is stored on a blockchain. After the messages have been exchanged the pointer to the last of the messages is signed by each participant and published on the blockchain. If the resulting contract has to be changed, a further message is added and the process continues.

Volkswagen is the latest major company to apply for a blockchain patent to enhance their business, with Walmart patenting a system for accessing medical records on a blockchain with other blockchain patents under review and Mastercard patenting anonymous blockchain transactions.  and Samsung seeking blockchain patents to improve their logistics and operational efficiency.

Ford Motors has also patented a cryptocurrency-fueled vehicle technology allowing for preferential lane access while on the road among other functions, with cryptocurrency exchange being a feature of the system. It’s possible that the Volkswagen contract system will handle similar negotiations if approved.

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