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Mastercard, a global payments giant, is positively venturing into the world of cryptocurrency with the development of a blockchain-based network. The endeavor is to offer easy transactions of digital assets between consumers, merchants, and financial institutions. The effort includes massive engineering work, regulation, strategic collaboration, and interaction with prominent financial players. Mastercard intends to leverage its extensive legacy payment experience to the crypto companies by becoming a vital infrastructure enabler in digital assets.
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s EVP of Blockchain and Digital Assets, stresses, “We bring the scale and reach that we have to the space for the money to flow between the two worlds in a simple way.” He says blockchain transactions should be fully compliant and as easy to use as Venmo or Zelle. Mastercard is promoting its Multi-Token Network, a crypto-friendly platform designed to help banks develop new uses like cross-border payments and tokenizing deposits and carbon credits. It is working with major banks like JPMorgan and Standard Chartered on these efforts.
For customers, Mastercard has launched more than 100 crypto-oriented card programs globally, including credit, prepaid, and rewards cards that reward customers with cryptocurrency rewards rather than cashback. The move is designed to enable the company’s 3.5 billion cardholders to transfer funds between fiat and crypto currencies seamlessly, thus increasing the movement of capital and purchasing power in the crypto space.
Since 2015, Mastercard has shown a firm dedication to blockchain and digital asset technologies by applying for more than 250 related patents. Furthermore, through its startup accelerator program, the company has backed 43 blockchain startups since 2021, encouraging innovation and development in the sector. To further enhance trust and security in blockchain transactions, Mastercard has introduced the Crypto Credential service. This service sets standard verification criteria to provide trusted interactions between consumers and businesses on blockchain networks.
