Global payments company Mastercard has launched a partnership programme to explore CBDC innovations CBDC with participation from firms in the blockchain industry, including Ripple, ConsenSys and Fireblocks.
Mastercard noted that 93% of central banks worldwide are experimenting with digital currencies in some form, and four retail CBDCs are already in circulation. However, regulators need to consider a host of questions, according to Jess McWaters, Mastercard’s senior vice-president. Among them he named:
- the role of the private sector in issuing CBDCs;
- security and privacy;
- compatibility — the ability for the asset to work with existing payment mechanisms.
According to McWaters, there is a need to understand what problems CBDCs solve and whether they are even the right instrument.
The assembled group of blockchain technology and payments solutions providers is meant to better understand the advantages and limitations of central bank digital currency. The programme’s aim is also to explore secure and seamless ways to implement CBDCs.
The first slate of Mastercard partners includes:
- a fintech company Ripple;
- a blockchain software developer and Web3 ConsenSys;
- a provider of solutions for multi-CBDC and tokenised assets Fluency;
- a provider of digital-identity technologies Idemia;
- consulting firm Consult Hyperion;
- cybersecurity group Giesecke+Devrient;
- a platform for digital-asset operations Fireblocks.
The programme will be based on Fluency’s solutions for functional interoperability of different CBDCs, the results of Consult Hyperion’s collaboration with central banks in defining their asset requirements, and the Ripple launch of a national stablecoin for Palau.
In McWaters’ view, Mastercard’s partnership programme will help central banks understand how to design a digital currency that adds something new and valuable to the economy.
“By combining the strengths, deep expertise and diverse capabilities of these partners, we can drive innovation in the central banking community and across the CBDC value chain as the space continues to evolve,” said Raj Dhamodaran, head of digital assets and blockchain at Mastercard.
In May, the payments giant launched pilot tests of tokenised bank deposits.