MasterCard, the second-largest payment-processing corporation in the world, recently announced a new program that aims to facilitate cryptocurrency trading in banking platforms.
In the program named “MasterCard Crypto Source”, the institution would serve as a “bridge” between ordinary banks and Paxos, a cryptocurrency trading platform that PayPal currently uses to provide related services.
Alongside Paxos, Mastercard will oversee any requirements regarding compliance and security. Usually, the two biggest factors that make traditional banks want to avoid dealing with cryptocurrency trading.
According to MasterCard’s chief digital officer – there is a demand for cryptocurrency investments in the general public, but roughly 60% of users would only consider the investment opportunity if they were able to do it from their traditional banking platforms.
“There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions,” Mastercard’s chief digital officer, Jorn Lambert, told CNBC in an interview. “It’s a little scary to some people still.”
The credit card company aims to launch this new cryptocurrency program sometime in the first quarter of 2023.
Mastercard Interest In Crypto
Over time it becomes evident that the credit-card giant has a huge interest in the cryptocurrency sector.
The company has invested in cryptocurrency research in order to present new technology to the field.
For instance, Mastercard is behind the financing of the cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain analytics “Cyphertrace”, which aims to study and educate users about blockchain technology and decentralized finances.
On top of that, Mastercard’s team aims to introduce several new crypto-related programs in the future.
Recent MasterCard Cryptocurrency Ventures
The payment-processing corporation seems to be keen on promoting the adoption of cryptocurrencies for the general public.
For instance, on August 27th we reported that Mastercard was partnering up with Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, in order to promote a new cryptocurrency payment system in South America.
Binance and Mastercard introduced the new “Binance Card” in Argentina. This new form of cryptocurrency payment allows users to use the card like a normal debit/credit card – with the possibility of payment in Bitcoin and other currencies.
Visa -Mastercard’s biggest competitor – also did something similar by introducing a new cryptocurrency payment card in partnership with crypto.com.
Despite the dreaded “Crypto Winter” – the interest (and most importantly the investment), that renowned companies in the finance sector are doing in crypto likely means that mass cryptocurrency adoption is inevitable.
