Despite the present market attitude, forward-thinking firms, executives, and investors are optimistic about the crypto-industry’s long-term potential. Harold Bossé, MasterCard’s Vice President of New Product Development and Innovation, believes that crypto-assets and blockchain technology will be widely adopted sooner rather than later.
According to sources, millions of users are already consuming and transmitting crypto-assets around the world, as Bossé observed during a blockchain webinar recently. He said,
“They are early adopters and new adopters, but we have switched toward mass markets, [and] that will be a very important aspect for financial institutions to move into the space.”
Crypto today is like the early days of the Internet?
Bossé, like many others before him, evaluated the current status of the crypto-business to the Internet’s early days.
“Think about the dawn of the Internet; no one could have imagined that Amazon could even be an idea. You need the Internet for Amazon to function,” he said. The exec went on to add,
“We’re in the same situation: How do we transform the lives of people and go into demographics or groups of people who don’t think about blockchain first but think about their business problems?”
He did point out that there are several obstacles to overcome before cryptos become more popular. He cited a lack of top management awareness, business reasons concerning scalability, cost, and speed, as well as regulatory considerations.
The Vice President is afraid that several market factors, including the fall of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA, have been driving the crypto-market down in recent weeks. If larger players are to engage, all of these factors, as well as others, would indicate a growing need for security in the industry.
Mastercard and crypto over the years
With crypto-backed credit services and the recent filing of NFT and Metaverse trademarks, MasterCard has already shown interest in the crypto-sector.
According to a blog about Mastercard supporting crypto-payments,
“This effort will open up a whole new world of possibilities for buyers and businesses, allowing them to deal in a whole different way. This adjustment could attract new clients who are already interested in digital assets, as well as help sellers, retain existing customers who want this extra alternative. Customers will also have additional options to save, store, and send money.”
Nexo, a cryptocurrency lender, recently announced a partnership with Mastercard to produce the world’s first “crypto-backed” payment card.
The card is linked to a Nexo-provided crypto-backed credit line and may be used at any of the 92 million Mastercard-accepting retailers globally. This will allow investors to spend up to 90% of the fiat value of their crypto-assets.
By filing 15 trademark applications linked to NFTs, Mastercard has also indicated its arrival into the metaverse. Mastercard aims to facilitate virtual payments in the metaverse “and other virtual worlds,” according to a trademark application.
More players in the game
And, it is not just Mastercard who is in this game. It is becoming more common to use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to make purchases in stores and restaurants. More businesses recognize the value of cryptocurrencies and are incorporating them into their operations in some way.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, recently launched a new cryptocurrency-based Visa debit card. Cryptocurrencies can be converted to EUR in real-time when a user conducts a transaction.
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