Mastercard, a payments giant, has created a forum for crypto industry players to discuss and collaborate on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This forum is designed to drive innovation and efficiencies and to encourage conversations among key players in the industry. Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s head of digital assets and blockchain, said, “We believe in payment choice and that interoperability across the different ways of making payments is an essential component of a flourishing economy.”
CBDCs are digital versions of existing fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, and could be based on blockchain technology. Initial participants in Mastercard’s CBDC Partner Program include Ripple, Fireblocks, and Consensys. Mastercard has a long history of innovating in the digital asset ecosystem, including launching a prepaid card for people in the Bahamas to use their CBDC. Most recently, the bank said that it was setting up a testbed to explore tokenized bank deposits in the U.K., which will move on to include CBDCs and regulated stablecoins in due course.