MasterCard's Singapore-based subsidiary filed a patent with the U.S. Patent Office detailing a payment system for using hardware devices that specifically mentions Iota's (MIOTA) Tangle technology.
The patent claim, published on Aug. 20, proposes a pay-as-you-go system that uses a "transparent data storage system and aggregation." Users must provide their credentials to gain access to a particular hardware device — the patent cites copiers and 3D printers as examples — and billed strictly for what they used.