MasterCard Financial News

Sydney-based Stables was founded in 2021 by Erez Rachamim, Bernardo Bilotta and Daniel Li who previously worked at Equitise, Zip and Readiitel. The company currently employs 15 staff.On the tie-up with Mastercard, Rachamim says: “Customers spend as they usually would using stablecoins, with transactions then settled by Stables’ payment gateway enabling real-time transactions using USDC.

Global payment provider Mastercard is launching a stablecoin digital wallet integration with the Australian stablecoin platform Stables.

Singapore move funds to and from accounts via local banks, smoothing one path to investing in digital assets at a time when markets are on edge over financial stability and crypto banking. Transfers, in Singapore dollars, are facilitated by a traditional bank, Standard Chartered, and carry no fee, the company said in a statement. Previously, users could only purchase crypto via a Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card, or transfer crypto in and out of their Coinbase account. Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase's country director for Singapore, told Reuters in an interview the move was part of the company's international expansion strategy. Rivals Crypto.com and Gemini already offer a similar service. Coinbase, which last year received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer payment services in the city-state, is looking to ramp up its Singapore retail offerings, said Ahmed.

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Bybit, the Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the launch of its new debit card that will allow users to make payments and withdraw cash using their cryptocurrency holdings. The Bybit card will operate on the Mastercard network and will initially allow fiat-based transactions by debiting cryptocurrency balances when used to pay for goods and services. The new service begins with the launch of a free virtual card for online purchases, while physical debit cards are set to be available in April 2023. The card will work with Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, USD Coin, and XRP balances on user accounts. Payments made with the Bybit card will automatically convert the balances of these initial cryptocurrencies into euros or pounds, depending on the user's country of residence.

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Crypto cycles aren’t for the faint-hearted. As the industry continues to evolve from the cypherpunks into the mainstream, we can expect a lot of growing pains. The dumpster fire that was 2022 may have scared off many companies interested in exploring the sector. Case in point: Visa and Mastercard’s embrace of crypto may have hit a snag thanks to the bear market and unclear regulations.

Bitcoin's recent price movement has caught the attention of crypto investors and enthusiasts as a massive transfer of $230 million worth of BTC was made to an unknown wallet by a whale investor. This event has fueled speculation about what the transfer could mean for Bitcoin's price in the near future. 

The projects will operate in a ring-fenced environment and involve a digital currency that is a real claim on the Reserve Bank. First announced in August, the RBA says the project received a "large number" of use case submissions from a range of industry participants. Selected pilot projects involve offline payments with ANZ, nature-based asset trading in a combined proposal from ANZ and Commonwealth Bank, interoperable CBDC for Web3 Commerce with Mastercard and Cuscal, and a corporate bond settlement use case submitted by the Australian Bond Exchange, among others. Of Australia's Big Four banks, ANZ is involved in four projects, while Commonwealth Bank takes two of the spots. Westpac and NAB are notable by their absence.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced several projects that will develop use cases for the eAUD, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) of Australia, during its testing phase.

Adoption of cryptocurrencies and services based on cryptocurrencies is continuing to gain traction, with an increasing number of businesses bridging the gap between conventional financial (TradFi) solutions and decentralized financial (DeFi) solutions.

Visa has reiterated its commitment to crypto strategy, refuting recent reports that the payment giant plans to pause crypto push due to uncertain market conditions. 

Bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, was able to recover some of its recent losses and attract modest bids above the $23,500 level as the crypto market started the month on a positive note. This was attributed to Abu Dhabi's plan to create a free zone for the crypto industry, which will offer zero taxes and 100 percent foreign ownership to digital and virtual asset firms.

Visa and Mastercard, the two largest payment card network processors in the world, have decided to push back the launch of their crypto-related products and services due to uncertain market conditions. 

Visa and Mastercard – leading payment processing firms – have decided to pull back on their crypto push amid the collapse of several notable crypto firms. According to a report by Reuters, the payment platforms will pause the launch of crypto-related products and services until the market condition improves. The firms are also reportedly looking for an improvement in the crypto regulatory environment, as per people familiar with the matter.

According to a a Reuters report published on Feb. 28, American payment processors Visa and Mastercard has delayed the launch of new partnerships with crypto firms due to a series of high-profile bankruptcies in the industry that have led to increased regulatory scrutiny. The move follows a period of warming relations between payment giants and crypto firms as the popularity of cryptocurrencies exploded, with Mastercard exploring payments via USD Coin and Visa targeting stablecoin settlements mere weeks before today's development. 

President Biden intends to nominate Ajay Banga, the former chief executive officer of Mastercard Inc., to serve as president of the World Bank, moving swiftly to fill a vacancy atop an institution the U.S. is pushing to overhaul.

Crypto assets made their way onto the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s list of priorities for 2023. So far, though, we haven’t tasted the “regulatory certainty” many have been calling for. Instead, the regulator threw the book at Kraken for allegedly failing to register its staking program. Coinbase appears next on the chopping block, but its lawyers are ready to fight.

President Biden intends to nominate Ajay Banga, the former chief executive officer of Mastercard Inc., to serve as president of the World Bank, moving swiftly to fill a vacancy atop an institution the U.S. is pushing to overhaul.

The race for dominance in WEB3 has heated up, now that the crypto market has offered a robust understanding of the powerful nature of the tech that underpins it. As a result, there has been an influx of increased investment in the sector.

Then, thanks to an Immersve partnership with a third-party settlement provider, the USDC stablecoin will be converted to fiat currency and settled on Mastercard’s network. Immersve is also tapping Mastercard Identity Services and CipherTrace technology to address KYC/AML, online fraud detection and blockchain analytics.Jerome Faury, CEO, Immersve, says: "Immersve is literally building bridges that make it possible for individuals to transact directly from their crypto wallet, anywhere Mastercard is accepted online.