On June 29, it was reported that the payments giant was planning to launch a beta “Multi-Token Network” in the UK over the next few months.
Mastercard Executive Vice President and Head of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Raj Dhamodharan described it as an “app store powered by blockchain technologies for building regulated financial applications.”
Mastercard delving into cryptocurrencies
Mastercard’s MTN will give developers access to the tools the credit card company has been developing this year.
These include a private version of the Ethereum blockchain on which the company will encourage developers to create new applications, the report noted. Dhamodharan told Fortune that:
“A lot of the things that people cover and talk about these days in crypto are the regulatory aspects and all the technology and investing as an asset, etc.”
He added that the underlying technology that powers the crypto is “actually quite useful.”
The company confirmed its commitment to cryptocurrencies in the official statement advertisementwhich marked the move as a “natural evolution” for a “broader range of payment solutions.”
“Our goal is to support the broader digital asset industry and stakeholders to help build confidence in its future.”
Mastercard’s previous forays into the digital asset space include non-fungible tokens (NFTs), crypto-linked credit and debit cards, crypto infrastructure, and developer tools.
The firm also offers products like ‘Crypto Secure,’ ‘Crypto Source,’ and ‘Crypto Credential,’ which it says bring “more transparency and trust to this space.”
Programs and applications in the new ‘app store’ can be written in Solidity, the Ethereum programming language.
Additionally, developers using the beta will be able to experiment with tokenized business bank deposits and blockchain data that indicates how much cash someone has in their bank account.
Mastercard plans to make MTN available in additional markets around the world over time, according to the announcement.
Crypto Market Insights
Crypto markets have started to pull back from Bitcoin’s resistance zone above $30,000. As a result, the total market capitalization is down 1.4% today at $1.20 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
BTC is holding above $30K, but only just barely, trading at $30,100 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Ethereum prices are starting to unravel again, down 1.8% to $1,831.
The top 50 altcoins were in the red at the time of writing.
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