JUST IN: Mastercard will help banks offer crypto trading services to clients

• Mastercard, an American fintech giant, has launched a program to let financial institutions offer crypto trading to their clients. 
• Acting as a bridge between the bank and Paxos, a crypto-trading platform, Mastercard will bring cryptocurrency trading to clients of financial institutions. 
• Mastercard recently announced its plan to make cryptocurrency payments accessible to users. 

Mastercard, an American multinational giant has taken a giant stride in helping banks offer crypto trading services to clients. Mastercard is set to bridge banks with Paxos, a crypto-trading platform to help clients avail the service. 

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Mastercard to help banks bridge the crypto trading gap

Mastercard’s plan to bring crypto to the masses and make cryptocurrency payments “everyday” is on track as the giant announces a program to help financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading. Mastercard will act as a bridge between Paxos, a crypto trading platform used by PayPal to offer a similar service. 

The two entities, Mastercard and Paxos will handle security, process and regulatory compliance for the banking partner. This will make crypto trading accessible to the masses as the top two reasons for banks to steer clear of digital asset trading is compliance and handling of assets. 

Mastercard acknowledges that there are number of market participants waiting for the right time and partner to start crypto trading. Rolling out the service through banks would help them begin their journey in trading digital assets. Since January 2022, there have been several high profile hacks, bankruptcies filed by lenders and events like the collapse of Terra’s LUNC (formerly LUNA) and UST. These events have acted as roadblocks for beginners in crypto trading. 

Bitcoin and top altcoins are known for their volatility and digital assets are considered risk assets. The bear market is considered the ideal time to build services and partnerships to roll out ahead of the next bull market, according to proponents. 

Mastercard’s move is welcome by the crypto industry that has suffered billions in hacks over the past two years. 

Jorn Lambert, Chief Digital Officer of Mastercard told CNBC that,

There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions. It’s a little scary to some people still.

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