Mastercard have applied for a new blockchain patent. Yep – another one. Is there a limit to how many patents you can apply for in one year? The document outlines its particular goal: quickening merchant transactions that use cryptocurrencies. It describes the problems faced currently by those buying or selling goods with digital coins. Lengthy confirmation times, they claim, have put a real dampener on the exchange, especially considering technology is already widely available that make the whole thing instantaneous. Mastercard’s solution is to build a system that manages a “fractional reserve of blockchain currency,” with a hope of streamlining the process. They would hold…

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