Mastercard is preparing to become the future of CBDCs

Last week, payments giant Mastercard announced its CBDC Partner Program. Thus far, several key participants have already been revealed, including Ripple, ConsenSys, and Fireblocks.

The partnership aims to promote collaboration on digital assets, including Central Bank Digital Currencies.

“We believe in payment choice and that interoperability across the different ways of making payments is an essential component of a flourishing economy,” said Raj Dhamodharan, head of digital assets and blockchain at Mastercard. “As we look ahead toward a digitally driven future, it will be essential that the value held as a CBDC is as easy to use as other forms of money.”

Several of the project partners have already partnered with governments around the world for their own CBDC projects. Consult Hyperion, one of the program’s initial partners, has already been engaged by the Bank of England as a consultant on CBDC projects in the UK. Ripple has also joined Hong Kong’s CBDC project, and is working with the Central Bank of Montenegro to explore a national stablecoin. Notably, Ripple already has its own specialised CBDC platform.

The announcement comes as interest in central banks around the world begin to take notice of blockchain technology and the benefits that they could bring. According to a 2022 Bank of International Settlements survey, 93 per cent of central banks are already actively engaged in CBDC-related work, and several central banks aim to have their CBDCs in circulation by 2030.