Mastercard Unveils Results Of Its CBDC Pilot Program
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Mastercard has unveiled the results of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program. The card provider demonstrated a solution enabling CBDCs to be tokenized across blockchains.
Mastercard offered consumers a new option to participate in the commerce sector across blockchain with better ease and security.
Mastercard conducted this testing program in partnership with the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre.
Mastercard’s CBDC Pilot Program
During the testing phase, Mastercard used a live environment to demonstrate how this solution could allow holders of a pilot CBDC to buy an NFT listed on the Ethereum blockchain.
The testing process involved locking a required amount of a pilot CBDC within the pilot CBDC platform offered by the RBA. An equivalent amount of wrapped pilot CBDC tokens were later minted on Ethereum.
The test transaction required the buyer and sellers’ Ethereum wallets to be on an allow list. The same requirement was needed for the NFT marketplace smart contract. The platform successfully demonstrated its ability to use controls even on public blockchains.
The pilot program used two pillars of the Multi Token Network, which Mastercard announced in June this year. It sought to support efficient payments and commerce transactions through blockchain technology.
The Mastercard Crypto Credential provided the verification standards and infrastructure to support better interactions across blockchain networks. It also supports interoperability to extend capabilities across the supported payment tokens and networks.
The Mastercard Multi-Token Network is currently in its beta phase. The program is vital to the card provider’s strategy to grow blockchain technology across multiple payment use cases. A pilot for the program using select financial institutions globally is underway.
Mastercard Taps Digital Offerings
The Division President for Australasia at Mastercard, Richard Wormald, noted that Mastercard had reported consumer demand to engage in commerce across blockchains.
Therefore, blockchain technology could support more consumer choices. It also presented new opportunities for a partnership between public and private networks to have an impact across the digital currency industry. Wormald noted the Multi Token Network could boost interoperability across blockchains.
“By enabling people to easily move digital currencies on-demand, via Mastercard’s trusted network, more consumers could participate in crypto ecosystems using reputable and reliable forms of money, while enjoying the benefits that these currencies offer such as programmability, transparency, and compliance,” Wormald said.
