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MasterCard Acquires CipherTrace
- denton-scratch 5y agoTitle needs editing; crypto != cryptocurrency.
- Tenoke 5y agoThat's the original title and I'd wager most people read it correctly.
- throwdecro 5y ago> I'd wager most people read it correctly. That's unlikely. Before cryptocurrencies, "crypto" generally meant cryptography. The term "crypto" now refers to cryptocurrencies almost 100% of the time.
- jeroenhd 5y agoI didn't: "CipherTrace" definitely made me think this was cryptography related. Mastercard has some pretty large investments into cybersecurity because of their position on the global money market, so I thought this company would be about trying to break encryption or something similar. I consider crypto to only refer to cryptocurrency in an informal, non-technical context, or in the middle of a paragraph talking about cryptocurrencies. On HN I kind of expect crypto to refer to cryptography with the amount of programming and computer science posts that get discussed here
- Joeboy 5y agoI noted the ambiguity but initially assumed cryptography, based on the name "CipherTrace".
- rewtraw 5y agothis is HN where its a race to be as pedantic as possible
- MorePedanticer 5y agoit's*
- legrande 5y ago*You're
- rfd4sgmk8u 5y agoYeah, crypto = hidden. In this context, crypto = cryptocurrency, because MasterCard is a major fintech company. The context is obvious. Don't die on the crypto != cryptocurrency hill. Its not worth it. Language is fluid and words represent concepts that change over time. We use contextual information to solidify the concepts. There is nothing special about cryptography that owns the word. Cryptozoology and Cryptosporidium are also valid candidates for using the short form.
- stouset 5y agoThe issue is that cryptography and cryptocurrency overlap relevancy in the fintech space. Without specifying which, it’s ambiguous. I say this as an engineer on the security team of a major fintech company who also has a cryptocurrency arm. It’s fine to call cryptocurrencies “crypto”. It’s less fine to be unnecessarily ambiguous and create confusion when either might be relevant. If not for this discussion, I had assumed the article would be about them acquiring an HSM vendor or someone else in the cryptography space. Admittedly this is the original title. But it’s an ambiguous and confusing title.
- 0des 5y agoUnless you also say "cellular telephone" I wouldn't lean into this one too hard, it's not worth it.
- vmception 5y agoThey are tracing cryptographic hashes that represent transactions in cryptocurrencies, as thats how cryptocurrencies work. Its the proper use of the word in one, two or even three contexts. If you're not interested in it, you'll find out from the subtitle or the first paragraph and move on.
- echelon 5y agoI totally misread this and rolled my eyes about MasterCard getting into the cryptocurrency business. It's to the point where we need to start labeling cryptography as such. Crypto now means cryptocurrency because the crypto folks like to shorten it in every conversation.
- vmoore 5y agoI've grown used to thinking crypto = cryptocurrency. That's the nature of language. A language (and its people) gets to vote for the use of a word based on the heuristic of popularity. It's something that has been going on for some time now.
- jmt_ 5y agoIt seems CipherTrace provides security/compliance/etc services similar to that of a traditional bank but for cryptocurrency? Will cryptocurrency effectively end up becoming just another currency/security traded and managed by giant companies rather than flourishing as the decentralized cowboy-esque financial system advocated for by crypto enthusiasts? Even those crypto users who choose to forego services offered by companies such as CipherTrace will still be effected by big companies attempting to regulate and control crypto in various ways, so I'm wondering what the sentiment is in the crypto community regarding this acquisition.
- jackson1442 5y ago> Will cryptocurrency effectively end up becoming just another currency/security traded and managed by giant companies Yes, that is exactly their goal. The only way Visa and MC continue to make money with crypto is centralizing and regulating it to death so no one else can enter the field, just like with payment cards today.
- jmt_ 5y agoThat's what I'm thinking too. Why would Visa invest anything in crypto if they don't think they can reasonably control and benefit off it? Risk assessment is at the very core of Visa's company and I cannot imagine they would invest in something that has unreasonable risk. Crypto is risky and difficult to predict, which makes me think they have a plan to minimize risk by controlling crypto thru means well known to them and traditional banks.
- rvz 5y agoI'm afraid you are totally correct. Involving Mastercard and Visa will allow them to put in place a similar fees structure they use for card payments for cryptocurrencies so that they don't miss out on making money with a fee system. Why do you think they 'embraced' cryptocurrencies all of a sudden and Visa making Coinbase and many others exchanges principle partners to allow them to convert crypto into fiat currency?
- ethbr0 5y ago1) Bemoan how people with all the money abuse their surfeit of capital. 2) Create a new currency, and give it to new people. 3) Create a way for the currency to be converted to standard money. 4) Watch as the newly wealthy become the people complained about in (1) and the link created in (3) enables the old wealthy to abuse their capital advantage on the new system.
- abstrct 5y agoThis is a pretty smart purchase, with it MasterCard is getting a fairly mature technology stack (by cryptocurrency standards at least), an incredible amount of data (mostly attribution data relating to addresses and transactions), and a team that’s experienced with the industry (which there is a massive void in skilled workers for).
- bob229 5y agoCrypto is trash
- Forbo 5y agoWelp, looks like this is going to be another avenue by which a major corporation engages in mass surveillance capitalism. I'd rather my financial activity not be constantly monitored, profiled, and sold off for advertising or whatever other purposes. This is why I hope that privacy coins catch on, but I'm unfortunately quit pessimistic that they will ever see mass adoption. If not for the lack of user will, then for the massive pushback we'll see from corporations and governments.
- Trias11 5y agoThe friction in crypto adoption happens where crypto needs to be converted to fiat and vice versa. The more goods and services can change hands without touching fiat - the faster the global evolution away from all kind of government and corp nonsense will happen.
- vesinisa 5y agoPress release from Purchase about corporate purchase by the Purchase-based company that makes purchasing easy.
- joshlk 5y agoHow much is the MasterCard paying? Is that published anywhere?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- toomuchtodo 5y agoNot enough to require an 8-K filing, which means the purchase price was so low as to be immaterial.
- zeruch 5y agoI know quite a few of the CT crew, and they are some sharp folks. Well done.