Mastercard and MoonPay: an alliance to revolutionise Web3 services

Mastercard and MoonPay have recently joined forces to revolutionise Web3 services. 

In a major move, MoonPay announced a partnership with Mastercard to offer Web3-based marketing experiences and new channels of interaction with consumers who are part of the Mastercard circle. 

See below for full details. 

Mastercard and MoonPay partnership: a new era of opportunity in the crypto sector

As expected, global payments giant Mastercard is continuing its exploration of the world of cryptocurrencies with a new partnership with payment platform MoonPay. 

On 25 October, MoonPay officially announced the partnership, which aims to use Web3 tools to enhance marketing experiences and find new ways to engage consumers using Mastercard.

News of the partnership was announced at Money20/20 in Las Vegas by Keith Grossman, MoonPay’s corporate president, and Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s head of marketing and communications. 

MoonPay will provide Mastercard with its full Web3 portfolio, including authentication, minting, ETHPass and more, and will work closely with agency Otherlife on strategy, creative and front-end development for experiential initiatives.

Details and goals of the new partnership

In addition to creating new Web3-based consumer experiences, MoonPay will work with Mastercard to integrate its products and solutions to increase compliance and trust in Web3. 

This includes integrating Mastercard tools such as “Click to Pay”, Mastercard Send and Mastercard Crypto Credentials into MoonPay’s payment solutions.

Adam Polansky, Mastercard’s Web3 Marketing, commented enthusiastically about the partnership on LinkedIn, and Elizabeth Taylor, Mastercard’s Partnerships Executive, expressed the same enthusiasm.

At the moment, however, Mastercard has yet to make an official announcement about the partnership. 

Recall that Mastercard has shown a growing interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency in recent years, integrating a number of cryptocurrency-related products into its platform. 

In 2022, Mastercard launched a programme that allows banks to offer cryptocurrency trading services to their customers, in partnership with Paxos. In addition, Mastercard has partnered with Coinbase and MoonPay to introduce payment methods for Web3 and non-fungible tokens.

China’s central bank expands use of digital yuan to attract global tourists

China’s central bank has recently updated its digital currency mobile application (CBDC) to allow tourists to fund their accounts using Mastercard and Visa, as part of a strategy to attract global users. 

The upgrade will allow users of the digital yuan app to top up their balances using Mastercard and Visa, as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) seeks to compete with other payment platforms in the country. 

Currently, the digital wallet app is only available to iOS and Google Play Store users in mainland China.

The move is seen as an attempt to attract a global audience to China’s digital yuan by allowing non-residents to create digital yuan accounts using a foreign phone number. 

Users can fund their digital wallets with a minimum of 100 yuan using international payment processors in a simple four-step process.

The update coincides with the start of the Asian Games, which are being hosted by China and are expected to attract thousands of foreign spectators. 

The PBoC is looking to capitalise on the influx of tourists to mainland China to expand the adoption of the digital yuan, following a similar strategy to the one used during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which was a huge success for the CBDC pilot project.

In anticipation of increased adoption, the central bank has confirmed that it will expand the use of the digital yuan to a wide range of retail payment scenarios. 

The digital yuan has already made its debut in transportation, retail and e-commerce transactions, and the central bank aims to further expand its use.