Mastercard Lines Up a Team for Its Own Digital Coins Plan

Previously, a partner of Facebook’s Libra, Mastercard has announced in news reports that it is in the midst of planning its own digital coins team.

An analyst with CreditCards.com, Ted Rossman, said the move is in line with Mastercard’s goal. Known as a technology company “more than a card company.”

Another card expert stated it is “a smart move.”

Seth Eisen, Senior Vice President of Mastercard, indicated that Mastercard is always on the lookout to generate new value.

He also added, “Looking at blockchains and cryptocurrencies is part of these activities.”

Recruitment ads for Mastercard are aiming for potential employees who are concerned in the “cutting-edge intersection of payments and cryptocurrencies.”

New hires are in charge of “monitoring cryptocurrency ecosystem trends” and “developing new products and solutions.”

The chief executive of LowCards.com, Bill Hardekopf, said Mastercard “sees there’s a lot of activity in this area.”

In addition, “Even if it isn’t going to offer its own digital coins, they know it is important to have people who understand the subject.”

Libra Crypto Captivated Investors

Facebook’s Libra has fascinated several big investors.

Meanwhile, a founding Libra investor, Mastercard joins Visa, PayPal, Uber, Coinbase, Lyft, Vodafone, eBay, and Spotify.

In a conversation at the end of June, the executive vice president of Digital Solutions at Mastercard, Jorn Lambert, told Karen Webster, “As you know, we’ve been looking at blockchain for quite a while.”

He also added, “We are still understanding the technology standards, doing pilots with banks and filing a number of patents.”

Lastly, “We absolutely think stablecoins will play a role in our future, that is [what] we have invested in over the years.”

Lambert indicated that Mastercard sees Libra is its embryonic stages. This is a novel way of merging digital coins with a private governing body. It also leads into creating something potentially stable and abundant enough that’s usable for payments worldwide.