Stephanie Douse 
Mastercard, the world’s largest payment processor, wants to get further involved in the bitcoin market. As a result, the business intends to extend its advisory services to include new practices focusing on open banking, open data, crypto, and digital currencies, as well as Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG).
Getting a Glimpse of Digital Currency Adoption
According to the official press release, Mastercard‘s consulting efforts are aimed at assisting financial institutions in navigating the adoption of cryptocurrencies by enabling banks and merchants to cover a wide range of digital currency capabilities.
This will involve early-stage education, risk assessments, the development of a bank-wide crypto and NFT strategy, as well as the design of crypto loyalty programs. As part of the company’s ambitious development goals, Data & Services, which also serves as a talent incubator, is looking to hire more than 500 college graduates and young professionals.
Mastercard has so far cultivated relationships with crypto-focused businesses and aided the spread of financial technology enterprises into new areas. One of the payment company’s key goals is to assist central banks in using its testing platform for both design exploration and deployment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Mastercard’s experience in payment systems, policy and legislation, and governance might be used through the platform, allowing central banks to evaluate potential frameworks before deploying them.
Adding Cryptocurrency to Its Network
Mastercard has made a number of efforts to incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrencies into its business model. In 2021, the firm announced that it will begin directly supporting a limited number of digital assets on its network.
Mastercard noted that users, merchants, and enterprises have the “option” to “transfer digital value, traditional or crypto, however, they wish,” without elaborating on its view on cryptocurrencies.
Later that year, it announced support for credit and debit cards backed by cryptocurrencies in the APAC area, allowing customers to pay for products and services with their digital assets in the same way they would with fiat money.
Mastercard recently teamed with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to make purchasing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) easier. In addition, the firm teamed up with ConsenSys, the top Ethereum software company, to create EVM blockchain roll-ups.