In a bid to venture deeper into use cases of digital currencies, Mastercard has recently teamed up with others to complete CBDC trials.
Mastercard has been one of the few payment majors in the world that has leveraged blockchain technology. It is for the very same reason that it launched its Multi Token Network in 2023 for further explorations into crypto. Using the Multi Token Network, the company has recently completed CBDC trials. It partnered with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC).
Mastercard participated in their CBDC pilot projects and demonstrated the use cases of digital currencies. The CBDC trials led to the possibility of wrapped CBDCs that could be tokenized on various blockchains. It will lead to smooth commerce across different blockchains, with a high potential for efficiency and security.
Richard Wormald from Mastercard said, “As the digital economy continues to mature, Mastercard has seen demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains. This technology not only has the potential to drive more consumer choice, but it also unlocks new opportunities for collaboration between the public and private networks to drive genuine impact in the digital currency space.”
During the trials, the payments company portrayed how a holder of a pilot CBDC could purchase non-fungible tokens on Ethereum. The RBA’s pilot CBDC platform locked the required amount of CBDCs for the transaction. Concurrently, it minted equal portions of wrapped CBDC tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
Thus, Mastercard showed the interoperability of CBDCs through the project. Mastercard Crypto Credential, a set of common standards developed by the company, also helped during the project. It helped implement transactions in a scalable manner across the supported tokens securely.
The Multi Token Network of Mastercard is helping in experiments worldwide with financial institutions. The network is creating a level of trust with other partners for creating a crypto ecosystem. The other stakeholders in this crypto project included payments data provider Cuscal and digital asset marketplace Mintable.
Senior officials of Mintable and Cuscal praised the benefits of the recent CBDC pilots. They underlined the vast potential of digital assets and currencies in the future of traditional financial services. Moreover, the transparency and programmability of the processes were also notable in the CBDC pilot.
The RBA has been conducting its own CBDC pilot for a digital dollar in Australia. The recent trials with Mastercard will also help them in innovation and research.
The growing interest of central banks worldwide in CBDCs has been reflected in experiments such as Project Mariana. Regulatory authorities have been quick to recognize the many benefits of digital currencies in payment systems. From cross-border remittances to efficient and affordable transactions, a clutch of central banks are exploring all CBDC use cases.