Mastercard introduces crypto trading platform with biometrics for banks

Mastercard has unveiled the availability of its new platform of crypto trading tools for financial institutions. Crypto Source, the new solution, will rely on partnerships with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers to furnish Mastercard’s financial institution (FI) partners with a suite of buy, hold and sell services for select crypto assets.

The payments provider confirmed in an announcement that Crypto Source would also support a series of identity, cyber, security and advisory services. Some services are powered by biometrics via Mastercard’s accompanying Crypto Secure technology, designed to deliver insights to improve the safety of crypto purchases and bring additional security to the digital ecosystem.

“What we are announcing today is a connected approach to services that will help bring users safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem,” explains Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard president of cyber and intelligence.

“Our recent investments in this space, such as the acquisition of CipherTrace and Ekata, are providing us with a unique set of capabilities to help provide our customers and consumers with the most technically advanced solutions available in the market.”

Additionally, Crypto Source will see the expansion of Mastercard’s partnership with blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos, which launched a pilot version of the biometrics-backed digital wallet app Novi with Facebook last year.

As a result of the new partnership, Mastercard will now integrate Paxos’s technology into banks’ interfaces to further improve the consumer experience.

“Mastercard has a powerful network of financial institutions around the world,” comments Walter Hessert, head of strategy at Paxos.

“This exciting offering developed by Paxos and Mastercard will give FIs the fastest and most trusted way to offer safe, reliable crypto access for their consumers globally. We’re thrilled to partner with Mastercard to further accelerate the mainstream adoption of digital assets.”

Crypto Source is currently undergoing preparations for various pilot programs. Mastercard says additional details on broader availability will be shared soon.

Beyond crypto, the financial giant is also working on several additional projects leveraging bleeding-edge technologies. Last month, Mastercard approved payment card maker Tag Systems to deploy biometric products using the Zwipe Pay platform.

More recently, the company revealed the approval of the first cards compatible with contactless specifications protecting against quantum attacks.

Article Topics

AML  |  biometrics  |  cryptocurrency  |  identity verification  |  Mastercard  |  onboarding