Mastercard Launches a Global Program to Help Cryptocurrency Startups in Scaling Their Innovations.
Mastercard, the world's largest payments company, has launched a new global programme for cryptocurrency startups. The programme has already joined seven cryptocurrency companies. They'll collaborate with Mastercard to "expand and accelerate innovation in digital asset technologies, as well as make buying, spending, and holding cryptocurrencies and digital assets safer and easier for people and institutions."
Mastercard’s New Crypto Program
“A new Start Path global startup engagement programme focused to supporting fast-growing digital assets, blockchain, and cryptocurrency companies,” Mastercard said on Tuesday.
The programme has already attracted seven startups. According to the announcement, they will collaborate with Mastercard “to expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology and make it safer and easier for people and institutions to acquire, spend, and hold digital assets and cryptocurrencies.”
GK8, Mintable, Stacs, and Supraoracles are among the startups. GK8 is an end-to-end institutional crypto custody platform that is self-managed by GK8 (Israel). Mintable (Singapore) is a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Stacs (Singapore) provides blockchain infrastructure for the financial industry, and Supraoracles (Switzerland) is a blockchain oracle.
Taurus, Uphold, and Domain Money are the other companies that have joined the initiative. Taurus (Switzerland) offers enterprise-grade infrastructure for the management of any digital asset, including crypto assets, digital currencies, and tokenized assets, including issuance, custody, asset servicing, and trading. Uphold (USA) is a crypto investment and payment service provider for consumers and businesses, and Domain Money (USA) is developing an investment platform for retail investors to bridge the gap between digital assets and traditional finance.
Since 2014, the Start Path initiative has aided over 250 firms, according to the statement. The programme now gives cryptocurrency startups access to Mastercard's "latest tools and solutions to assist these companies in scaling their innovations and cutting-edge technologies."
“These startups use the programme to connect with our ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners, and digital players around the world to deliver new solutions,” Mastercard explained.
"Mastercard has been engaged with the digital currency ecosystem since 2015," stated Jess Turner, executive vice president of New Digital Infrastructure and Fintech.
We believe that as a leading technology company, we can play a significant role in digital assets, shaping the industry and providing consumer protections and security. Part of our role is to shape the future of cryptocurrency, which we do by fusing mainstream financial principles with digital asset innovations.
Last week, Mastercard announced an enhancement to its card programme for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, with the goal of making it "easier for partners to convert cryptocurrency into traditional fiat currency."
