Mastercard (NYSE:MA) has partnered with leading digital asset platform Paxos to offer crypto trading to banking firms.
According to a statement by Mastercard, “Crypto Source” is a new feature that provides an option for traditional financial services to offer crypto trading services.
Walter Hessert, Head of Strategy at Paxos, commented on the news:
“Mastercard has a powerful network of financial institutions around the world. This exciting offering developed by Paxos and Mastercard will give FIs the fastest and most trusted way to offer safe, reliable crypto access for their consumers globally. We’re thrilled to partner with Mastercard to further accelerate the mainstream adoption of digital assets.”
Paxos is a company that provides solutions to tokenize, custody, trade, and settle assets for enterprise clients. Paxos has taken a compliance-first approach by working within regulatory frameworks, to create an ecosystem that earns institutional trust. Paxos was the first company to secure a New York State Department of Financial Services Trust Charter for Digital Assets. It is also the first firm to gain SEC approval to offer blockchain technology to settle stock trades.
Jorn Lambert, Chief Digital Officer at Mastercard, said their commitment is to provide consumer choice.
“We’re excited to build on our long-term partnership with Paxos – co-innovating to bring safe and secure technology to financial institutions. 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.”
Mastercard pointed to data that indicates 29% of global respondents to a 2022 survey hold cryptocurrency as an investment, with another 65% indicating a preference for crypto-related services to be provided by their current trusted financial institution. This indicates there is an opportunity for traditional banks, as well as Fintechs, to offer crypto trading services.
Mastercard has previously worked with Paxos. The company engaged in a pilot program where Paxos converted stablecoins into dollars to allow crypto holders to spend their money.