Stephanie Douse 
Financial services and payment giant Mastercard is now set to offer a new service that involves consultation regarding crypto and digital currencies. The new offering for banks and merchants will cover everything from crypto and NFT strategy, to crypto cards and loyalty programs.
Mastercard is expanding its cryptocurrency offerings, stating today that it will offer payments-focused consulting services for crypto and digital currencies, as well as potentially assisting in the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The financial services behemoth announced that its new offerings for banks and retailers will include everything from bitcoin and NFT strategies to crypto cards and loyalty programs.
More mainstream financial institutions and businesses will have to adapt as NFTs—unique blockchain tokens that denote ownership of a digital or physical asset—become more widespread.
According to a statement from Mastercard, the company is also intending to use its testing platform to assist banks in exploring the feasibility of establishing and implementing CBDCs.
Mastercard and some crypto-based projects
Mastercard has previously produced cryptocurrency cards with Wirex and BitPay, so this isn’t the first time the company has indicated an interest in digital currencies. Mastercard stated last year that it was “currently preparing for the future of crypto and payments.”
Mastercard recently teamed with Amber, Bitkub, and Coinjar to provide crypto-focused payment cards for Asian customers.
Mastercard will be a payment option for NFTs on Coinbase’s planned NFT marketplace platform, which has no release date but could be a competitor to OpenSea.