MasterCard Executive Remains Bullish on Crypto Mass Adoption

Forward-looking corporations, executives, and investors remain upbeat about the longer-term prospects for the crypto industry despite the current market sentiment.

MasterCard’s Vice President of new product development and innovation, Harold Bossé, believes that mass adoption of crypto assets and blockchain technology will happen sooner rather than later.

In a blockchain webinar on May 24, Bossé noted that there are already millions of people today consuming and sending crypto assets around the world, according to reports:

“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.”

Challenges ahead for crypto

He did note that there were a number of challenges to overcome before cryptos become mainstream. Lack of senior management understanding, commercial rationale surrounding scalability, cost and speed, and regulatory concerns, are among them he stated.

Like many before him, Bossé compared the current state of the crypto industry with the early days of the internet. “Think about the advent of the internet; no one was thinking that Amazon could even be a concept — you need the internet for Amazon to work,” he stated before adding:

“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 really think about blockchain first but think about their business problems?”

MasterCard has already shown an interest in the crypto sector with crypto-backed credit services and the recent registration of NFT and Metaverse trademarks.

The major cryptocurrency networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum solve a few very clear problems. Almost instant, low-cost transfer of money across international borders for BTC, and a decentralized application and smart contract Web3 economy for ETH. There are many others for the multitude of crypto projects that have emerged over the past few years but only the strongest will survive.

The comments come as cryptocurrencies continue to decline in what appears to be the beginnings of a prolonged bear market.

Cyclical markets

You know you’re in a bear market when mainstream media revels in the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) with clickbait headlines claiming it is all about to crash to zero. The same happened in 2018 following the ICO boom and Bitcoin’s rapid ascent to its peak at the time of $20,000. Today, the asset is trading 50% higher than back then, yet the doom-mongers are out in force once again with their tired old tales of woe.

Bear markets are often considered healthy as they wipe out the speculators and leveraged gamblers while enforcing the strong hands and those who truly believe in what crypto stands for – financial freedom. They also provide prolonged periods for research and accumulation in preparation for the next inevitable bull cycle.