a system for bankcard payments , wherein payments are peer - to - peer transactions between the cardholder and merchant without participation from any third party . the system uses standard bankcards and supports both debit and credit card payments . for authorization of payments the system uses a special , global , distributed , append - only , and secure public bankcard ledger . the entries in the ledger are virtual accounts used for bankcard payments , organized into account chains . the system provides security , privacy , anonymity , and untraceability for cardholders and their transactions . the system allows for various users of the system to participate in transactions using preexisting payment systems . in one embodiment , specially designed mobile software modules and an innovative payment protocol all for transactions to be made between users .