Mastercard’s CBDC innovation promotion program includes participation from Ripple and ConsenSys

In its search for innovation and efficiency in a technology that 93% of central banks are exploring, the payment processor has enlisted a spectrum of market actors.

“To bring a greater understanding of the benefits and limitations” of central bank digital currency (CBDCs), Mastercard said on August 17 that it will be launching a collaboration program with seven leading blockchain and payment technology firms.

Although Mastercard did not disclose the organization’s exact goals, it did highlight several of the CBDC industry’s current buzzwords, including security, privacy, interoperability, the private sector, promoting innovation, and efficiency. In the release, Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s head of digital assets and blockchain, made the following remarks.

“With an eye towards the future, it will be crucial that the value kept as a CBDC be as convenient to utilise as other kinds of money.”

Through the Mastercard program, businesses that have made contributions to CBDC advancement in the past will be brought together. Ripple, which has just released a platform devoted to CBDC, will be there, as will ConsenSys, a software firm that has worked on many CBDC projects, and Fluency, a supplier of solutions for tokenized assets that are participating in 23 different CBDC initiatives.

Giesecke+Devrient, a company involved in the project, has developed its own CBDC solution and collaborated on CBDC initiatives with the central banks of Ghana and Thailand. Offline payment processing is Idemia’s forte, and they’ve collaborated on a CBDC initiative with a Japanese payment processor. Consult Hyperion also collaborates with central banks on payment options that may be used offline. Fireblocks, a platform for secure institutional custody, rounds up the group.

Mastercard was a prominent player in the cryptocurrency industry for many years until gradually withdrawing. Company officials have spoken out in favour of CBDCs, and the firm has collaborated on initiatives with the Bank for International Settlements, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and other central banks.

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