Mastercard Launch Crypto Source to Offer Crypto Trading Tied to Bank Accounts
A new service from Mastercard will let customers to purchase and sell digital assets using their bank accounts, possibly opening the door for thousands of financial institutions to provide cryptocurrency trading. According to Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, the product, named Crypto Source, will launch in the US, Israel, and Brazil early next year through a pilot program. He opted not to reveal which banks would sign up first.
In order to give its financial institution partners access to a full range of purchase, hold, and sell services for a chosen group of crypto assets, along with proven identification, cyber, security, and consulting services, the payment giant will collaborate with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers. Mastercard Crypto Secure is a complement to this Crypto Source solution, enhancing the ecosystem’s security and assisting card issuers in adhering to onerous requirements.
The current range of crypto-related services offered by Mastercard to banks and fintechs is as follows:
- Support from partnerships and technology to facilitate the purchase, holding, and sale of specific crypto assets
- Security management, including ‘Know Your Business’ and lifecycle stages, cybersecurity, Mastercard’s identity solutions, crypto analytics, transaction monitoring, anti-money laundering, and biometrics
- A wide range of goods, including crypto cards, open banking, and cross-border services, enable the ability to spend and withdraw cryptocurrency. Using Mastercard’s technology, financial institutions would be able to provide extra features like digital receipts and loyalty programs.
- Crypto program managementincluding program design, product development and technology implementation, as well as go-to-market optimization and marketing consultancy services, providing end-to-end support for banks, fintechs and issuers to offer crypto programs at scale
“At Mastercard, trust is our business. What we are announcing today is a connected approach to services that will help bring users safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem. Our recent investments in this space, such as the acquisition of CipherTrace and Ekata, are providing us with a unique set of capabilities to help provide our customers and consumers with the most technically advanced solutions available in the market,” said Ajay Bhalla, President, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard.
Mastercard is extending its collaboration with Paxos Trust Company, a top regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, in support of this program. In order to give customers a seamless experience, the cooperation calls for Paxos to offer custody and trading services for cryptoassets on behalf of the banks, while Mastercard will use its technology to incorporate such capabilities into the bank interfaces.
According to Jorn Lambert, Chief Digital Officer at Mastercard, the firm’s crypto product developments will give choice at scale and continue to create one-of-a-kind opportunities to financial institutions as they seek to offer new, advanced services to their clients.
“Our commitment is simple – to explore crypto and the underlying digital assets technology to support consumer choice in payments. Today is an exciting step in our crypto journey that draws on the strengths of our global businesses, from open banking and identity verification to analytics and fraud monitoring to settlement solutions. We’re excited to build on our long-term partnership with Paxos – co-innovating to bring safe and secure technology to financial institutions. Our crypto source innovations will provide choice at scale and continue to bring one-of-a-kind opportunities to financial institutions as they seek to offer new, advanced services to their customers,” said Lambert.