Mastercard has filed a patent application for a method of anonymizing transactions on a blockchain. The solution would "increase the anonymization of a wallet and the user associated therewith," according to the application.

The patent states that it currently is possible to determine the identity of a cryptocurrency user by analyzing and viewing transactions for a specific blockchain wallet. Mastercard's solution anonymizes the transaction itself and thus hides the actions of the wallet.

According to the wording of the patent:

The methods and systems discussed herein use intermediary addresses to obfuscate the source and destination of funds for transactions conducted via the blockchain, which would result in showing the user only transferring funds to and receiving funds from a small number of addresses that are also involved in a significantly large volume of transactions with various other users.

This method would hide sensitive data and obscure the amounts sent by using multiple transfers involving multiple addresses, the patent filing said.