Mastercard to Help Banks Offer Crypto Trading — Executive Says Crypto Is on the ‘Cusp of Really Going Mainstream’

Payments giant Mastercard has introduced a new program called Crypto Source to enable financial institutions to offer crypto trading and other related services to their customers. Mastercard has partnered with Paxos Trust Company to support this program. A Mastercard executive says that crypto is on the “cusp of really going mainstream.”

Mastercard introduced a new program called Crypto Source Monday that will bring “crypto trading capabilities to banks.”

In partnership with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers, Crypto Source will “enable financial institutions to bring secure crypto trading capabilities and services to their customers,” the announcement details, elaborating:

Mastercard’s financial institution partners will gain access to a comprehensive suite of buy, hold and sell services for select crypto assets, augmented with proven identity, cyber, security and advisory services.

“This Crypto Source offering is complemented by Mastercard Crypto Secure to bring additional security to the crypto ecosystem,” the payments company emphasized, noting that Crypto Source is currently being prepared for pilot programs.

Mastercard further explained that to support this program, it is “expanding its partnership and work with Paxos Trust Company, a leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform,” adding:

The partnership aims for Paxos to provide crypto-asset trading and custody services on behalf of the banks, while Mastercard will leverage its technology to integrate those capabilities into banks’ interfaces.

Jorn Lambert, chief digital officer at Mastercard, described: “Our crypto product innovations will provide choice at scale and continue to bring one-of-a-kind opportunities to financial institutions as they seek to offer new, advanced services to their customers.” He opined:

Our commitment is simple – to explore crypto and the underlying digital assets technology to support consumer choice in payments.

Commenting on the Crypto Source launch, Lambert told CNBC: “There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions … It’s a little scary to some people still.” He added that crypto is on the “cusp of really going mainstream.”

Mastercard recently outlined five key areas it is focusing on in order to turn cryptocurrencies into “an everyday way to pay.”

What do you think about Mastercard launching Crypto Source to enable banks to offer crypto trading and other related services to their customers? Let us know in the comments section below.