Electronic payments giant Mastercard seems to be revving up efforts to develop its blockchain products, according to several new postings on.
Specifically, Mastercard is searching for individuals to fill three senior-level positions–a director of “product development and innovation”, director of “product management–cryptocurrency wallets,” and a vice president of blockchain product management.
Is Mastercard building a crypto wallet?
Based on the descriptions in these postings, the company seems to be focusing its efforts on developing “wallet solutions” for cryptocurrency. Two of the job postings–the VP position and the director of product management–require that candidates have prior experience in managing cryptocurrency wallets, and says that the role includes “[leading] the ideation, definition, design, and development of innovative cryptocurrency solutions including wallet solutions.”
No information was given as to which cryptocurrencies the wallets would be built to hold, which platforms they will operate on, or when they will be available.
However, has led some analysts to believe that the company could be working toward becoming a wallet provider for the Libra network.
Mastercard On Facebook’s Libra Crypto Future | “We absolutely think stablecoins will play a role in our future, that is [what] we have invested in over the years”
— Dave “Identity is the New Money” Birch (@dgwbirch)
Mastercard has collaborated with Facebook in the past
Even if the Libra network is not launched in a timely manner–or ever–Mastercard’s blockchain wallet initiatives may still be tied into Facebook somehow.
After all, one of Facebook’s purported humanitarian goals behind the Libra project is to provide affordable payments options to unbanked individuals.
Prior to the announcement of Libra, to help small businesses in Africa to accept electronic payments. Given the fact that these two entities have collaborated in the past, another blockchain-related collaboration could be in the future, with or without the presence of Libra.
Mastercard’s blockchain-related initiatives first emerged in 2017, when the company announced that it was working on building its own blockchain.
The same year, Mastercard announced that it was opening its blockchain for experimentation by banks and merchants. A number of the 175 engineers that the company hired last year have expertise in blockchain.
Mastercard did not respond to requests for commentary before the time of publication.
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