Mastercard unveils unique crypto trading platform for Europe and Latin America

Mastercard has unveiled an exciting new initiative, a peer-to-peer platform created exclusively for cryptocurrency enthusiasts from Europe and Latin America. This innovative platform is one of the first to allow users on supported exchanges to seamlessly send and receive cryptocurrencies using the unique Mastercard Crypto Credential aliases, completely revolutionizing the transaction process.

As of Wednesday, this new feature began serving in a spectrum of countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay. The users in these countries can now make both local and international transfers in different currencies and blockchains.

In an effort to reach a broader consumer base, Mastercard has further enriched these new offerings by including Foxbit, a respected crypto wallet provider, and Lulubit, through its merger with Lirium, into the Mastercard Crypto Credential pilot ecosystem.

At its core, the Mastercard Crypto Credential ensures the verification of interactions between consumers and businesses on various blockchain networks. Smartly designed to simplify transactions, it enables the exchange of metadata, bypassing the need for users to know the recipient’s supported assets and chains. The result of this innovative approach leads to more trust and greater security for every transaction.

A key feature of the Mastercard Crypto Credential is compliance with regulatory requirements such as the Travel Rule, promoting transparency and stopping illegal activities in cross-border transactions.

Furthermore, the framework of this new platform lays a solid foundation for future use cases, which could include non-fungible tokens (NFTs), ticketing and a spectrum of payment solutions depending on market demand and compliance standards.

To participate, users must first authenticate themselves against the Mastercard Crypto Credential standards. After this, they will be given an alias that can be used for transactions on all supported exchanges. When initiating a transfer, the platform checks the recipient’s alias and ensures that the recipient’s wallet supports the specific digital asset and associated blockchain. In the event that the recipient’s wallet does not support the asset or blockchain, the sender is immediately notified, protecting all parties involved from a possible loss of funds.

Walter Pimenta, Executive Vice President of Product and Engineering for Latin America and the Caribbean at Mastercard, expressed his enthusiasm and optimism about this new project and emphasized the company’s goal to deliver secure, simple and innovative payment solutions through continued investments in technology. standards and partnerships.

Several partners, including Bit2Me, Foxbit, Lirium and Mercado Bitcoin, have spoken out about their zeal for innovation and commitment to developing crypto solutions that promote alternative payment options and improve the user experience.

Initially, a select group of crypto wallet users will receive exclusive access to the Mastercard Crypto Credential on a first-come, first-served basis. However, in the following months, the company plans to provide broader access to more than 7 million users on participating exchanges, democratizing access to secure and efficient crypto transactions. A new page has been turned for cryptocurrencies, marking a new milestone in fintech.