Master Coin?

The global payment processor has listed a number of job openings, asking for people having experience in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector. The jobs are not your regular decentralized technology specialists either. The openings are top level, such as:

According to the job details given on the MasterCard portal, the product management roles will be spearheading a team that will develop blockchain solutions for the company, such as wallets. The ads do not have much explanation apart from this, but they do mention that these new position holders will develop the solutions “that have strategic fit and value to Mastercard’s customers and partners.”

The key words in this whole are cryptocurrency and wallets, leading many experts to believe that the payment processor just might be considering launching its own digital coin. On the other hand, MasterCard is also a partner of Facebook’s Libra Association. The openings might indicate MasterCard’s intention to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency support in its network to support the Libra stable coin.

Blockchain Blues

MasterCard is not new to blockchain. It has in the past revealed its interest in the decentralized technology. Last year it filed a patentin which anonymous transactions would be possible using blockchain. The patent is one several it has already filed for concerning blockchain. During the Fintech Ideas Festival held in California in March, the CEO, Ajaypal Banga saidthe technology held a lot of “interesting possibilities” and ignoring it would not be a good idea. According to Banga, the technology was still in experimental stage and it had a lot to offer as yet.

The main competitor of MasterCard, Visa, has also shown interest in blockchain technology with hinting that it might support the technology in the future. It has already hired a blockchain manager.

As blockchain technology develops and traditional financial institutes finally realize that the technology has a lot to offer, they are slowly warming up to it. The latest development by MasterCard show that trend.