Key Takeaways
- Mastercard will act as a “bridge” between Paxos, a platform used by PayPal to offer crypto trading
- The “Crypto Source” platform allows users to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies, complemented by Mastercard’s Crypto Secure solution.
Leading payments company Mastercard has joined hands with crypto trading platform Paxos to help financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading. As per recent reports, Mastercard will act as a “bridge” between Paxos, a platform used by PayPal.
“The partnership aims for Paxos to provide crypto-asset trading and custody services on behalf of the banks, while Mastercard will leverage its technology to integrate those capabilities into banks’ interfaces, resulting in a seamless experience for the consumer,” the payment giant will pilot the product in the first quarter of 2023, then “crank the handle” to expand in more regions.
Commenting on the latest development, Mastercard’s chief digital officer, Jorn Lambert, “There’s a lot of consumers out there that are interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions.”He added said that polling indicates demand for the asset, but around 60% of respondents said they would rather test the waters through their existing banks.
Walter Hessert, Paxos Head of Strategy, also pointed out the scale of Mastercard’s global network of financial institutions. He added that the new tool will provide banks and creditors with the “most trusted way to offer safe, reliable crypto assets.”
Mastercard has recently been venturing into the world of Web3. Earlier this week, the payments giant highlighted five areas it is working on to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay. Mastercard has also expanded its consulting work to include a dedicated crypto practice, and it completed the purchase of Ciphertrace in 2021. Mastercard has also partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase to make non-fungible tokens/NFTs to become more accessible to everyone.
