Good day everyone,
I hope you are all well and having an excellent day, welcome to CryptoGod-1’s blog on all things crypto. There was good news regarding the world's second largest payment-processing company, Mastercard, as it announced its "Engage" program is expanding to help scale crypto and blockchain technology.
Mastercard Engage
A press release on Thursday the 22nd of June 2023 by Mastercard explained how it is expanding its Engage program by allowing a number of crypto firms to leverage the credit card giant’s global network. They have announced that there planned move should allow businesses to launch quickly and scale products that power the Web3 economy, while its Engage program will aim to simplify the process for partners to collaborate with the credit card company. They hope for this to accelerate time to market for product innovation as it will give access to the company’s global network and expertise.
Within the announcement, Mastercard made it clear they will be specifically targeting digital assets. The expansion of the Engage program aims to identify potential partners who will be in a position to facilitate the introduction of new crypto card programs to the market. At the same time Mastercard is hopeful of creating a crypto-to-fiat conversion capability via these new partnerships.
The payment processing giant feels that through this new initiative they will be in a position to enhance accessibility and collaboration for various companies who operate within the cryptocurrency space. There will be two key areas of focus for Mastercard with its expansion of the Engage program; forming partnerships with organizations interested in launching crypto cards and collaborating with BIN sponsors (Bank Identification Numbers).
Crypto Companies in the Mastercard Engage Program
It has long been known that the 57-year-old credit card firm, which employs nearly 30,000 individuals worldwide, has been interested in cryptocurrency development. Back in October of 2022 they introduced Crypto Source, a program aimed at allowing financial institutions to offer crypto trading capabilities and services to their customers.
Mastercard has also created partnerships with regulated crypto custody providers, meaning their financial institutional partners gained access to a comprehensive suite of services for buying, holding, and selling select crypto assets. With the Engage program to come into full effect, Mastercard have also announced the names of the crypto payment companies joining it in the program. These will include Baanx, Credential Payments, Episode 6, Immersve, Monavate, Moorwand, PayCaddy, Paymentology, Pomelo, Swap, and Unlimited.
According to their Executive Vice President of blockchain and digital asset products, Raj Dhamodharan:
"The expansion of Mastercard Engage’s network will allow various players, not just within the crypto asset ecosystem, to join the Mastercard brand. It will allow us to realise our ambitions at scale while being backed by the safety and security of our customers.”
It is also important to note that Mastercard has submitted a trademark application for a suite of technologies related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies just days before the announcement of the Engage program. These applications are a further testament to Mastercard's intention to create software specifically designed for optimizing bitcoin and blockchain transactions.
Mastercard Press Release
Below is a copy of the press release by Mastercard:
Expanded Mastercard Engage partner network will help scale digital assets and blockchain technology, and meet continued ecosystem demand
As our world continues to embrace new and emerging payments technology such as crypto, Mastercard is introducing a new track as part of its global Engage partner network to allow businesses to quickly launch and scale products that power the Web3 economy.
Mastercard Engage makes it simple for partners to collaborate with Mastercard and accelerate time to market for product innovation through access to the company’s global network, expertise, technology, and resources. Last year alone, more than 150 Engage partners helped their customers deploy innovative solutions on more than 500 million accounts using Mastercard products and services.
The expanded Engage partner network focused on digital assets will help identify partners that can help bring new crypto card programs to market, in addition to allowing for crypto to fiat conversion capabilities. This, in turn, will broaden access to and for the many different players across the crypto value chain. Mastercard Engage benefits can be broken down into two key areas:
- Become a partner: For issuers or BIN sponsors looking to launch new crypto card programs, and payment ecosystem enablers looking to scale crypto payments solutions with BIN sponsors, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), processors and more
- Find a partner: For companies or digital asset innovators looking for the right partners to launch and scale their offerings
“Mastercard is committed to co-innovating across the industry to enable access to crypto and blockchain technology. This not only unlocks potential, but also provides greater choice in payments and commerce,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard. “The expanded Mastercard Engage network will help empower players across the digital asset ecosystem and beyond to fulfill their ambitions at scale, paired with the safety and security that comes with the Mastercard brand.”
This video helps to further explain how Mastercard Engage works.
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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