Mastercard today introduced Crypto SourceTM, a new program that enables financial institutions to offer secure cryptocurrency trading capabilities and services to their customers.
Mastercard’s 2022 New Payments Index reported that 29% of global respondents hold cryptocurrencies as an investment, with another 65% indicating that they prefer cryptocurrency-related services to be provided by their current trusted financial institution*.
In partnership with licensed and regulated cryptocurrency custody providers, Mastercard’s financial institution partners will have access to a full suite of services for buying, holding and selling select cryptoassets, complemented by identity, cyber, security and advisory services.
This Crypto Source offering is complemented by Mastercard Crypto SecureTM to bring additional security to the cryptocurrency ecosystem and support card issuers in their compliance with complex regulations.
Now, Mastercard’s suite of cryptocurrency-related offerings for banks and fintechs includes:
- Technology and partnership support to enable the purchase, holding and sale of selected cryptoassets.
- Security management, including Mastercard’s identity solutions, cryptocurrency analytics, transaction monitoring, anti-money laundering, Know Your Business and lifecycle stages, cybersecurity and biometrics
- Crypto-spending and collections capabilities offered through a range of products, including cryptographic cards, open banking and cross-border services. Financial institutions could also offer additional functionality using Mastercard technology, such as digital receipts and loyalty solutions
- Cryptocurrency program management, including program design, product development and technology implementation, as well as go-to-market optimization and marketing consulting services, providing end-to-end support for banks, fintechs and issuers to offer cryptocurrency programs at scale
“At Mastercard, trust is our business. What we are announcing today is a connected approach to services that will help bring users securely into the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Our recent investments in this space, such as the acquisition of CipherTrace and Ekata, are providing us with a unique set of capabilities to help provide our customers and consumers with the most technically advanced solutions available in the market,” said Ajay Bhalla, President of Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard.
To support this program, Mastercard is expanding its partnership and work with Paxos Trust Company, a leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform.
The partnership aims for Paxos to provide cryptoasset trading and custody services on behalf of banks, while Mastercard will leverage its technology to integrate those capabilities into bank interfaces, resulting in a seamless consumer experience.
“Our commitment is simple: to explore crypto and the underlying digital asset technology to support consumer choice in payments. Today is an exciting step in our crypto journey that builds on the strengths of our global businesses, from open banking and identity verification to fraud analysis and monitoring and settlement solutions. We are excited to leverage our long-term partnership with Paxos, innovating together to deliver secure technology to financial institutions. Our cryptographic product innovations will provide options at scale and continue to bring unique opportunities to financial institutions as they look to offer new and advanced services to their customers,” said Jorn Lambert, Chief Digital Officer, Mastercard.
“Mastercard has a powerful network of financial institutions around the world. This exciting offering developed by Paxos and Mastercard will give FIs the fastest and most reliable way to offer secure and trusted cryptographic access for their consumers globally. We are delighted to partner with Mastercard to further accelerate the widespread adoption of digital assets,” said Walter Hessert, Chief Strategy Officer at Paxos.
Over the past few years, Mastercard has been working alongside its customers and partners to offer new services and capabilities to help make cryptocurrencies more accessible, safe and secure.
These efforts have been complemented by the addition of new technologies through Finicity, Ekata, RiskRecon and CipherTrace.
This unique combination of services provides eligible financial institutions with the opportunity to directly manage cryptoasset investments for consumers. Mastercard also continues to support banks, governments and others through its crypto and digital currency consulting services.
Mastercard Crypto Source is currently preparing for pilot programs. Additional details on broader availability will be released at a later date.
Mastercard and Web3
Mastercard has been working to drive widespread adoption of NFTs through partnerships with various Web3 platforms.
In January, it partnered with Coinbase to enable users to pay for NFTs using Mastercard credit/debit cards.
In April, it filed 15 trademark applications to offer financial services in the metaverse.
In June, it announced a cross-platform partnership with Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay to enable NFT trading on Web3 platforms.
And a few months in Miami, it joined forces with TIME US and Salesforce to launch NFTs later this year.
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