Mastercard would be considerate about digital assets to be supported, focusing on consumer protection and compliance
Mastercard to introduce cryptocurrency into its network. (Credit: Alina Kuptsova from Pixabay.)
Mastercard has unveiled its plans to support select cryptocurrencies directly on its network from this year, as the digital assets are becoming an important part of the payments industry.
The announcement follows a Reuters report on Tesla purchasing $1.5bn of bitcoin and allowing Bitcoin as a new payment.
The payment technology company said that people in its network are using its cards to buy crypto assets, especially during the recent surge in Bitcoin value.
Also, the firm observed that users are increasingly making use of crypto cards to access the cryptocurrencies and converting them to traditional currencies for spending.
The company is not expected to support all the available cryptocurrencies on its network but would be considerate about assets to be supported, focusing on consumer protection and compliance.
Mastercard said: “To be completely clear, not all of today’s cryptocurrencies will be supported on our network. While stablecoins are more regulated and reliable than in the recent past, many of the hundreds of digital assets in circulation still need to tighten their compliance measures, so they won’t meet our requirements.
“We expect consumers and the ecosystem as a whole will start to rally around the crypto assets that offer reliability and security. It’s those very same stablecoins that we expect to bring into our network.”
The company is focusing on consumer protections, including privacy and security of consumers’ information, which is expected to be in the same level of security in credit cards.
Also, the firm is focused on stringent compliance protocols, including Know Your Customer (KYC) to prevent illegal activities and deception in payment networks
Last year, Mastercard has partnered with Wirex and BitPay to develop crypto cards that facilitate transactions using cryptocurrencies.
The firm increased the partnerships this year, by teaming up with LVL, an upcoming cryptocurrency exchange, to support its strategy.
Furthermore, the company engaged with several major central banks worldwide, to offer new digital currencies, dubbed CBDCs, to its customers.