Mastercard Content Exchange

2020: Mastercard Content Exchange announcement - platforms for testing national cryptocurrencies

In mid-September 2020, Mastercard introduced a blockchain platform for testing national digital currencies (CBDC). The Mastercard Content Exchange Virtual Test Environment will evaluate central bank CBDC options and simulate CDBC production, distribution, and exchange between banks, financial service providers, and consumers.

Mastercard invites national and commercial banks, as well as consulting firms, to cooperate. They will be able to test the use cases of the new digital currency and evaluate its compatibility with existing pilot payment systems for customers and enterprises. Mastercard assured that employees take privacy issues seriously and take into account the corresponding requirements when developing a new product. The company refused to clarify which software is used in the project, only noting that it includes blockchain.

MasterCard creates a platform for testing national cryptocurrencies

Central banks have accelerated the development of digital currencies with various goals, from increasing accessibility to modernizing the payment ecosystem, "said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president for digital assets and blockchain products and partnerships at Mastercard. - The new platform will help central banks make difficult decisions regarding the further development of local and regional economies.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, 80% of central banks surveyed worked in one form or another to create a national digital currency, and about 40% of central banks switched from conceptual research to design experiments. It is expected that cooperation between the public and private sectors in the study of national digital currencies will help central banks assess the range of technological opportunities available when applying CBDC.^[1]

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