Mastercard’s boss says Blockchain can add much more value to financial services
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Payment giant MasterCard find that crypto and blockchain are useful and can add much more value to the financial industries as a whole, but only when they address the security and ease of use to build trust.
Speaking at a North America Innovation Day event, Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s EVP and head of crypto and blockchain, said that the emerging technologies of blockchain and crypto are becoming more popular globally.
However, Dhamodharan noted that the lack of security and complex user interactions limit the technologies’ use cases and tools.
Therefore, while crypto technology has the ability to store and move capital and value, he argued, those use cases become sparse when security and simplicity are not prioritized.
The EVP was quoted by TechCrunch as saying that,
“Establishing trust in the blockchain ecosystem is a critical step in realizing its full potential.”
Similarly, Johan Gerber, EVP for Security and Cyber Innovation, said that
“What you need for this technology to scale globally is interoperability and underlying trust security.”
Once these key points are achieved, Dhamodharan believed, it will be much easier for various companies, both traditional and new players, to enter and engage with the Web3 industry.
There is capital and talent coming into the industry and there is a lot of innovation to be seen, but the technology has more potential, Dhamodharan said.
“People look at crypto and think of it as an investment, but it’s a whole sector that’s much more useful for financial industries as a whole. The technology itself has a lot of promise.”
Gerber added that Mastercard “aims to provide a technological foundation that allows everyone from small startups to massive financial institutions to innovate and build upon.”
Not a newcomer
Mastercard is not new to the industry. Several developments have been announced in just the last few months.
As reported last October, the company debuted a new piece of software, Crypto Secure, powered by CipherTraceintended to help banks identify and intercept transactions from fraud-prone crypto exchanges.
That same month, Dhamodharan said that “soon one day” we would be able to use cryptocurrency as seamlessly as contactless card payments, but that it would require development in some key areas, including crypto cards, service providers, and easier crypto-to-fiat conversion for payments.
In November, CEO Michael Miebach claimed that it’s “quite possible,” that one day everyone will pay with Bitcoin (BTC), “but I think there’s a long way to go before crypto becomes mainstream.”
Also in November, Mastercard launched Start Path Crypto, a global engagement program to help blockchain, crypto and digital asset startups.
Meanwhile, in June 2022, the company said it would begin enabling non-fungible token (NFT) trading for a variety of crypto ecosystem platforms, including marketplaces, metaverse game titles, and Web3 infrastructure providers.
And in February of this year, Satvik Sethi, the former NFT product manager at Mastercard, made a unique announcement: he surprised the NFT community by minting his resignation letter as an open issue of NFT on Ethereum via the digital collectibles protocol Manifold.
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Learn more:
– BitOasis collaborates with Mastercard
– Mastercard to enable direct NFT payment options for marketplace operators
– Payment giants Visa and Mastercard Push Back launch of crypto products due to uncertain market conditions
– Visa reaffirms commitment to crypto technology despite recent reports – here’s the latest
– What is blockchain technology?
– The difference between Bitcoin and traditional currencies
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