If you just roam around your eyes on MasterCard then you can see MasterCard's new technologies with blockchain. They have adopted blockchain technology and just working on it to give their user more easy functions and also to engage new users.
If you look at 2017 on MasterCard's activities regarding blockchain technology then you can see that they have published two new patents on the blockchain, one was for tamper-proof distributed storage and the another one regarding instant payments.
In this series of blockchain tech continuation MasterCard in this April releases a new patent concerning node activation on the blockchain. Though they have a patent which was filed regarding this back 2016.
If you keep on your eyes on USPTO page, then you can see in this patent they have described this.
When a computer which connected to a blockchain network keeps a copy of that blockchain and which actually requires verifying a massive amount of data individually. If you are a blockchain network researcher or user then you’ll understand. By their new approach stated in that patent, new nodes have to verify lots of blockchain records, but in storing it, it is taking a lot of time. That’s why MasterCard got a solution named “FAST TRACK FLAGS” which is a simple header and which can identify new nodes so fast then it starts to verify the earlier fast-track node block and hashes it. Then it just verifies that reference and stores it. So the new technical addition of master card is to enhance the system efficiency by fast track flag.
In my perspective, though they are assuming lots of blockchain techs and developing it for their self-interest, they are some kinda anti of a part of blockchain and that is BITCOIN. You can look for that news where the CEO of MasterCard mentioned cryptocurrencies as junk.
