As Mastercard plans to introduce Crypto, Paxos is prepared to offer its trading and custody services

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Mastercard formally introduced a new program on October 17 that would allow financial institutions to provide their customers with access to crypto trading knowledge and services. The “Crypto Source” program combines Mastercard’s exclusive crypto-secure solution for added security and compliance with the ability to buy, hold, and trade crypto assets. According to reports, the technology will be made available in Q4 2022 in collaboration with Paxos Trust Company, a current partner of Mastercard. Paxos, a rival to PayPal, a pioneer in global payments that launched its first bitcoin services in late 2020, offers comparable services. As part of the new partnership, Mastercard will use its technology to integrate crypto trading capabilities into banking interfaces, while Paxos will manage the custody and trading of bitcoin assets on behalf of the banks. Ajay Bhalla, the head of Mastercard’s cyber and intelligence division, emphasized the company’s growing expertise and commitment to the crypto industry. He noted Mastercard’s recent investments in the crypto space, including the purchases of digital identification platform Ekata last April and crypto intelligence firm CipherTrace in September. The 2022 Mastercard New Payments Index, which reported that 29 percent of respondents globally hold crypto. assets as an investment, was cited by Mastercard in its news release. According to reports, another 65 percent of respondents preferred their current, trusted financial institution to offer crypto services. “What we’re announcing today is an approach to services that will help bring users safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem,” Bhalla noted. Walter Hessert, the director of strategy at Paxos, also emphasized the breadth of Mastercard’s international network of financial institutions. The new tool will provide banks and creditors with the “most reliable way to offer safe, reliable crypto-assets,” the CEO claimed. Mastercard’s latest crypto initiative comes as the market value of all crypto assets has fallen by roughly 60 percent since 2022. It would be short-sighted to think that a bit of a crypto-winter heralds its end… As regulation kicks in, there will be a higher degree of security available to the crypto platforms, and we will see many of the current issues being resolved in the quarters for years to come,” said Jorn Lambert, Chief Digital Officer at Mastercard.Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist.