Mastercard has begun piloting its Crypto Credential network, enabling cross-border peer-to-peer digital asset transactions between Latin America and Europe.
Unveiled last year, MasterCard Crypto Credential helps verify interactions among consumers and businesses using blockchain networks.
The pilots will see users from a host of countries on the Bit2Me, Lirium and Mercado Bitcoin exchanges send cross-border and domestic transfers across multiple currencies and blockchains.
Users will also be able to send and receive crypto using their Mastercard Crypto Credential aliases, instead of the typically long and complex blockchain addresses.
For payments, exchanges will first verify a user under the set of Mastercard Crypto Credential standards. At that point, the user obtains an alias to send and receive funds across all supported exchanges.
When a user initiates a transfer, Mastercard Crypto Credential verifies that the recipient’s alias is valid, and that their wallet supports the digital asset and associated blockchain. If the receiving wallet does not support the asset or blockchain, the sender is notified and the transaction does not proceed, protecting all parties from the potential loss of funds.
Mastercard says the system could prove a boon for the remittance market but the firm is also planning to move beyond P2P to support NFTs, ticketing, and other payment options.
Walter Pimenta, EVP, product and engineering, Latin America and the Caribbean, Mastercard, says: "As interest in blockchain and digital assets continues to surge in Latin America and around the world, it is essential to keep delivering trusted and verifiable interactions across public blockchain networks."