CBDC Win: Mastercard Just Completed CBDC Pilot with Reserve Bank of Australia

It has been just reported that Mastercard has just wrapped up its CBDC pilot with the Reserve Bank of Australia. Check out the latest reports about this below.

Mastercard has successfully conducted a pilot of central bank digital currency in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre.

The objective of the project was to determine how authorized parties, who have undergone the know-your-customer protocols, could hold, use and redeem CBDCs.

The project also tested the process of purchasing an Ethereum-based NFT by locking the pilot CBDC and minting an equivalent amount of Ethereum-based wrapped coins.

Mastercard has released a statement detailing the results of the pilot.

“As the digital economy continues to mature, Mastercard has seen demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains,” Mastercard’s Australasia division president Richard Wormald said in a statement.

“This technology not only has the potential to drive more consumer choice, but it also unlocks new opportunities for collaboration between the public and private networks to drive genuine impact in the digital currency space.”

Cuscal, a financial services firm in Australia, has partnered with Mintable, a blockchain technology company, as part of Mastercard’s pilot program.

Since 2020, Mastercard has been interested in exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and expressed its desire to become a private-sector partner for CBDCs in 2021.

In August 2023, the company formed a CBDC program with Ripple and ConsenSys to achieve its goals.

Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has decided to discontinue its Binance Card services in Latin America and the Middle East.

The Binance Card, which was launched in collaboration with Mastercard in January, allowed users to use their crypto assets to fund their purchases and bill payments.

Back in August, we revealed the fact that the exchange informed that Binance Cards issued in Latin America would no longer be accepted after September 21st, while the cards issued in the Middle East would no longer be supported after August 25th.