Mastercard Teams Up With Major US Banks for Tokenized Settlements

Expansion of Pilot Phase and Project Goals

The ongoing trial phase expands on a 12-week pilot phase initiated in late 2022, which focused on cross-border and domestic dollar payments between banks. The current proof-of-concept (PoC) trials are centered on simulating settlements in U.S. dollars. 

According to Mastercard’s statement on May 8, the project aims to increase the efficiency of cross-border settlements while minimizing the chances of error and fraud.

Raj Dhamodharan, head of blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard, emphasized that applying shared ledger technology to dollar settlements could revolutionize market infrastructures, making programmable settlements seamless and operational around the clock.

Key Participants and Contributions

The RSN PoC includes notable additions to the participating institutions: interbank tokenized deposit networks, with the USDF Consortium as a direct participant and the Tassat Group as a contributor. Deloitte provides advisory services, while the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is the program manager.

Ten major banking institutions are involved: Citi, JPMorgan, Mastercard, Swift, TD Bank N.A., U.S. Bank, USDF, Wells Fargo, Visa, and Zions Bancorp. Six other participants, including the nonprofit MITRE Corporation, BNY Mellon, Broadridge, the DTCC, ISDA, and Tassat Group, are offering their expertise to the project.