Mastercard Outlines 3-Pronged Strategy to Support the Growing Crypto Community

MasterCard mapped out a three-pronged strategy focused on security and better services to support the growing cryptocurrency community during a presentation on Wednesday.

• The credit card giant said during the virtual event at its annual investor’s day conference that it would focus on “crypto enablement,” which encompasses purchasing, spending, cashing out and rewards involving cryptocurrency; crypto security, including identity services; and network access, which covers interoperability, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

• Mastercard senior executives believe that crypto payment flows, including remittances, traditional finance (TradeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), represent net new volume for the company, Barclays research analyst Ramsay El-Assal wrote in a note to clients Wednesday after the event.

• Mastercard has been bolstering its crypto offerings lately, with partnerships in Asia Pacific that will allow consumers and businesses across Asia Pacific to obtain crypto-linked Mastercard credit, debit and prepaid cards.

• Mastercard said in late October it was working with digital asset platform Bakkt to allow merchants and banks in the U.S. to build cryptocurrency into their offerings.