Mastercard Launches Crypto Credentials P2P Pilot Program

Provided by DMR News (English)

Mastercard has initiated a pilot program for its innovative crypto credentials system, aimed at enhancing the security and efficiency of cryptocurrency transactions. This initiative marks a significant step in the company’s efforts to integrate more seamlessly into the burgeoning blockchain technology space.

The crypto credentials P2P pilot program introduced by Mastercard incorporates a user-friendly alias system for crypto transactions, reducing the reliance on cumbersome wallet addresses made up of long strings of numbers and letters. This system not only simplifies transactions but also aims to drastically reduce user error.

The pilot involves notable exchange partners including Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado, and wallet provider FoxBit, indicating a collaborative approach to refining and advancing this technology within the crypto ecosystem…Story continues…

By: Dayne Lee

Source: Mastercard Launches Crypto Credentials P2P Pilot Program

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In April 2023, Mastercard announced its intention to expand its partnerships with cryptocurrency firms. At the time of the announcement, the firm had already partnered with other financial companies to offer cards linked to crypto in some nations. This was despite an increasingly intense regulatory environment, and it followed rival company Visa stopping its agreement with FTX in November 2022.

The company said its Mastercard Crypto Credential service would allow for transactions between countries that met requirements like so-called “travel rule” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), using technology from CipherTrace. It also worked with wallet providers Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado Bitcoin, and Uphold. Its head of crypto and blockchain, Raj Dhamodharan, said uses for NFT transactions would come later on.

Mastercard is associated with security and is believed to be reliable in emergencies. Antitrust litigation over the years has damaged the brand. Mastercard’s current advertising campaign tagline is Priceless. It started in 1997. The slogan associated with the campaign is There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard.

 The Priceless campaign in more recent iterations has been applicable to both Mastercard’s credit card and debit card products. They also use the Priceless description to promote products such as their priceless travel site, which features deals and offers for Mastercard holders and priceless cities, offers for people in specified locations.

In mid-2006, MasterCard International changed its name to MasterCard Worldwide. This was to suggest a more global scale. In addition, the company introduced a new corporate logo adding a third circle to the two that had been used in the past (the familiar card logo, resembling a Venn diagram, remained unchanged). A new corporate tagline was introduced at the same time—The Heart of Commerce.

In July 2016, Mastercard introduced their new rebranding, along with a new corporate logo. In addition, they changed their service name from “MasterCard” to “mastercard”. In January 2019, Mastercard removed its name from its logo, leaving just the overlapping discs. In 2021, Mastercard was ranked number 13 on Morning Consult‘s list of most trusted brands.

Mastercard sponsors major sporting events and teams throughout the world. These include rugby’s New Zealand, the MLB, the UEFA Champions League and the PGA Tour‘s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Previously, it also sponsored the FIFA World Cup but withdrew its contract after a court settlement and its rival, Visa, took up the contract in 2007. 

In 1997, Mastercard was the main sponsor of the Mastercard Lola Formula One team, which withdrew from the 1997 Formula One season after having failed to qualify its first race due to financial problems. It also partners the Brazil national football team and the Copa Libertadores. Mastercard was also the title sponsor for the Alamo Bowl game from 2002 until 2005.

In late 2018, Mastercard became the first major sponsor for League of Legends esports. The company sponsors the League of Legends World Championship, Mid-Season Invitational, and the All-stars event for League of Legends. Until 2018, Mastercard was the sponsor of the Memorial Cup, the CHL‘s annual championship between its three leagues.

In September 2022, Mastercard acquired the title sponsorship rights for all international and domestic home matches organized by the Board of Cricket Control in India. Mastercard has its headquarters in the Mastercard International Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York. The Global Operations Center is located in O’Fallon, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

Mastercard was listed as one of the best companies to work for in 2013 by Forbes. In 2016, Mastercard UK became one of 144 companies who signed the HM Treasury‘s Women in Finance Charter, a pledge for balanced gender representation in the company.

In 2017, CEO Ajay Banga reinforced the company’s goal of extending financial services to those outside the current system by bringing digital payment systems to the unbanked around the world. The company invested $500M in India with offices in Pune and Vadodara to help Mastercard bring cashless transactions to the largest population in the world. The company also is scheduled to invest an additional $750M in cashless apps and technology, especially focused on India between 2017 and 2020.

Mastercard operates Banknet, a global telecommunications network linking all Mastercard card issuers, acquirers, and data processing centers into a single financial network. The operations hub is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Banknet uses the ISO 8583 protocol. Mastercard’s network differs significantly from Visa‘s. Visa’s is a star-based system where all endpoints terminate at one of several main data centers, where all transactions are processed centrally.

Mastercard’s network is an edge-based, peer-to-peer network where transactions travel a meshed network directly to other endpoints, without the need to travel to a single point. This allows Mastercard’s network to be much more resilient, in that a single failure cannot isolate a large number of endpoints.

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