Solomon Samuel 
Mastercard has concluded an experiment involving the wrapping of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on various blockchains, comparable to wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) and wrapped Ether (wETH).
According to the October 12 announcement, the demonstration was conducted with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the country’s Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, CBDC, along with participation from Cuscal and Mintable.
Mastercard stated that the solution enabled a CBDC owner to purchase a nonfungible token (NFT) listed on Ethereum in a live environment.
“A pre-requisite of the test transaction was that the Ethereum wallets of both the buyer and seller, as well as the NFT marketplace smart contract, were ‘allow-listed’ within the platform. With all other transfers of the wrapped pilot CBDC blocked, it successfully demonstrated the platform’s ability to implement controls – even on public blockchains.”
“The process “locked” the required amount of a pilot CBDC on the RBA’s pilot CBDC platform and minted an equivalent amount of wrapped pilot CBDC tokens on Ethereum,” according to the payment processor.
The solution employs Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network, which was introduced in June 2023 and integrates blockchain technology with payment technology.
“Together with Mastercard, we have identified a use case whereby digital currencies and NFTs can easily be linked, potentially stamping out fraud and theft, ending the loss of documentation and records, and unleashing new possibilities for commerce,” stated Zack Burcks, chief executive officer and founder of Mintable.
The RBA has previously stated that a CBDC denominated in Australian dollars could facilitate complex payment arrangements and innovation in the finance sector that cannot be achieved with fiat currency.
However, the central bank also stated that “more research” is needed to evaluate the benefits.