Mastercard

Bitcoin (BTC) rapid rise in 2021 has been remarkable, with the leading coin hitting a new all-time high on Friday. According to the latest stats, Bitcoin is worth more than the two largest banks in America combined.  Bitcoin Market Cap Nears $900 billion. Bitcoin’s price has rebounded in the past few days after initially trading around the $42k mark on Monday. Buoyed by the news of institutional purchases of BTC, the price pumped to $48,000 on Thursday. A quiet push…

The American multinational financial services provider, Mastercard, has recently revealed its plans to offer merchants the option of receiving payments in cryptocurrency.  The company announced that it would start supporting a few selected cryptocurrencies on its network later this year in an official blog post. However, the payment processing giant has not disclosed which cryptocurrencies it will be supporting or where it will support them. It mentioned that it would carefully evaluate the cryptocurrencies against its digital currencies principles before…

Social messaging platform LINE is set to develop a blockchain platform for Central Banks Digital Currencies (CBDC). Korean paper Chosun reported on Monday that LINE is in discussion with several Asian banks regarding the new development. The blockchain platform would enable the Central bank to launch CBDCs in a safe and scalable environment. Central Banks would also be able to add customizable features on the platform using different economic parameters. LINE has been proactive in its use of blockchain technology.…

Since its early days, the cryptocurrency market has been looking towards national governments to facilitate global adoption. However, they may have been barking at the wrong tree all along. New state regulations for crypto use and blockchain implementation are necessary. But, their application is tediously slow. Global payment processors like Mastercard and Visa can accelerate the process. Their latest projects show that they are finally ready to embrace cryptocurrency. Why now? Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out today!…

Wirex announced a partnership with Mastercard taking place in record books as the first crypto native platform to receive principal membership from Mastercard, enabling them to issue payment cards to users. The trading platform expressed in their tweet the possibilities that this collaboration has opened doors to. It has been vigilant to facilitate mainstream adoption as the ultimate payment solution for users worldwide. They further mentioned it as a gateway to exploring new spaces in cryptocurrencies and Fintech. Overview of the…

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)could soon find it easy to conclude their transactions. This follows global payments giant SWIFT's announcement that would make instant payments available to SMEs.  SWIFT, says it intends to be at the fore of global A2A and B2B transactions. The firm is taking on Visa, MasterCard, and emerging fintech ventures, for example, Ripple.  The decision to venture into space was arrived at in a last month's meeting of the firm’s Board and Executive. The decision is…

The CEO of Mastercard, Ajay Banga, recently talked about why the firm left the Libra association in an interview with the Financial Times.  Facebook also added Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, and Stripe, as members of the Libra association. However, they abandoned the association in October last year without any appropriate explanation. There were, nevertheless, rumors that they feared running afoul of regulators. Reasons Why Mastercard Left Libra Association According to Banga, Libra lacks transparency, and compliance is also a significant reason.…