Identifying approval optimization opportunities

An issuer was unable to appropriately identify crypto transaction risk from virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in its portfolios, so set strict authorization and fraud policies to decline 60% of crypto transactions worth $87 million gross dollar volume (GDV), many from VASPs associated with low-risk profiles.

With accurate insights into the VASP risk associated with the crypto transactions in its portfolios, the issuer identified potential opportunities to optimize approvals from VASPs with low-risk profiles.

This resulted in more than $24 million total potential GDV opportunity from approving addressable issuer-declined crypto transactions from low-risk VASPs in countries where purchases of crypto assets are permitted by local regulations.

Source: Mastercard transaction data from Jan.–Dec. 2021