Mastercard launches ‘crypto partner program’… Ripple, PayPal, Binance and others join

Global payments firm Mastercard is expanding its crypto business by teaming up with Ripple, the issuer of XRP, and global crypto exchange Binance, among others.

According to CoinDesk on the 11th (local time), Mastercard said it has launched a crypto partner program involving more than 85 companies worldwide. The program is known to include Ripple, Binance, Circle (USDC), PayPal and Gemini, among others. CoinDesk reported, “Participants plan to work with Mastercard to explore how blockchain-based systems can integrate with existing payment systems.”

Mastercard said the program will focus on practical use cases such as cross-border remittances, B2B payments and global disbursements. Mastercard already provides payment services in more than 200 countries. Mastercard said, “Only when blockchain-based payments are connected to this kind of global infrastructure can they achieve broad adoption.”

Accordingly, the goal of the crypto partner program is to build a “link” with existing payment systems. CoinDesk said, “Participating companies will collaborate with Mastercard to develop products that combine on-chain tools—such as programmable payments and tokenized assets—with existing payment systems.”