Mastercard Helps Banks Provide Crypto Trading
In a groundbreaking move, Mastercard has introduced a revolutionary tool that paves the way for banks to offer cryptocurrency trading. The tool, dubbed Crypto Source, was announced on October 17th and should facilitate seamless access for bank customers to the buying, holding, and selling of cryptocurrencies.
Developed in partnership with the renowned Paxos Trust Company, this program integrates Mastercard’s advanced Crypto Secure technology, ensuring enhanced security and compliance for users.
Mastercard’s latest offering positions itself at the forefront of this transformative journey as the financial world edges closer to widespread crypto adoption.
Mastercard and Paxos Join Forces
In this new partnership, Paxos will handle custody and trading of crypto assets on behalf of the banks. Mastercard, on the other hand, will use its technology to incorporate crypto trading into the user interfaces of banks.
The President of Mastercard’s Cyber & Intelligence, Ajay Bhalla, highlighted the firm’s expanding knowledge of and commitment to the crypto market. What makes this even more convincing is that the digital identification platform Ekata and the crypto intelligence platform CipherTrace were acquired by Mastercard last year.
The 2022 Mastercard New Payments Index report states: “29% of respondents globally hold cryptocurrency as an investment, with another 65% indicating a preference for crypto-related services to be provided by their current trusted financial institution.”
The report clearly shows that Mastercard sees a big demand for such a service. But does Paxos share the same view? “We’re thrilled to partner with Mastercard to further accelerate the mainstream adoption of digital assets,” said Walter Hessert, the Head of Strategy at Paxos.
Bear Market Concerns
The latest crypto initiative from Mastercard comes as the overall market valuation of cryptocurrencies has decreased by over 50% since the start of 2022. So, it’s no wonder that some people are concerned with how successful this project will be.
But what does Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s Chief Digital Officer, have to say? “It would be shortsighted to think that a little bit of a crypto winter heralds the end of it. As regulation comes in, there will be a higher degree of security available to the crypto platforms, and we’ll see many of the current issues getting resolved.”
Mastercard’s Contribution to Crypto
While enabling banks to offer crypto trading is no small feat, it’s just another move in a long line of Mastercard’s contributions to the crypto space. In the past few years, Mastercard has been actively working on various projects related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
For example, the two companies announced their partnership earlier this year to enable Coinbase NFT customers to make transactions using Mastercard cards.
Additionally, Mastercard gave its US clients the ability to buy, sell, and hold digital assets using custodial wallets. It released this feature in late 2021 through a partnership with the digital asset company Bakkt.
Published version: deepimpactmedia.com/mastercard-gives-crypto-tools-to-banks