Skip to main content

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
Post a Comment

Mastercard Outlines Plans for Cryptocurrencies, Stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currencies

Mastercard Outlines Plans for Cryptocurrencies, Stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currencies

Mastercard’s CEO has outlined the company’s plans to develop products and services around cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). “We want to be playing a role across all of them … It’s obviously a vibrant space around digital currencies,” said the CEO.

Mastercard Wants a Role in All 3 Crypto Areas

Payments giant Mastercard provided an update of its cryptocurrency plans during the company’s earnings call Thursday. CEO Michael Miebach explained that his company wants a role in three crypto areas. In addition to cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, the company also focuses on the private sector’s stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies. He affirmed:

We want to be playing a role across all of them … It’s obviously a vibrant space around digital currencies … This is a relevant technology. As a multi-rail player, we got to be in this space because people are looking for answers.

For cryptocurrency, Miebach explained: “We’re making it easier for cryptocurrency wallets to connect seamlessly to our network through a pilot with Paxos, Circle and Evolve Bank & Trust, which simplifies the conversion of crypto into fiat.” The executive added: “Separately, we’re partnering with Consensys, the Ethereum software engineering firm, to accelerate the development of crypto applications and services to our customers.”

Regarding crypto investing, the CEO said:

Clearly, people want to invest in that. They don’t want to sell their investments, and we’re going to make this as easy as possible. So we have all these partnerships out there.

As for stablecoins, the CEO said that Mastercard is “engaging with private sector players as well as regulators on what does good policy look like around private sector stablecoins because this question about regulatory compliance is still unresolved.”

Miebach then reiterated what he said during the company’s Q1 earnings call that Mastercard was “getting ready to technologically enable our network to carry these stablecoins as settlement currencies provided they meet one of our — all three of our criteria, which is regulatory compliance, consumer protection and stability.”

Regarding central bank digital currencies, he noted that a growing number of central banks are exploring CBDCs, including the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England. The executive said:

Things are definitely continuing to move forward … there is clear progress.

Responding to a question about Mastercard’s value proposition to central banks and the government in the crypto space, the CEO said: “we bring a unique perspective to the market … to these players as a multi-rail provider because all these countries have to make the trade-off.” He opined:

Everybody has different motivations ranging from financial inclusion to cross-border payments and hence, we’re a sought-after party because we have experience in all of that.

Specifically, he noted: “I think a particularly critical proposition here is our virtual test platform because all of these design choices that governments have to make and that we consult them on, we then have to live in the wild, so to say. They’ve got to work with the existing financial infrastructure, and that’s what our virtual test platform does for them.”

What do you think about Mastercard’s plans for the crypto space? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blockchain Software Firm Consensys Acquires Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet

On February 1, the blockchain infrastructure firm Consensys has revealed it has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto and plans to merge the wallet into Metamask. The price Consensys paid for Mycrypto was not disclosed but the announcement notes that the acquisition will “further improve the security of all the products.” Consensys Obtains Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet, Plans to Merge With Metamask in the Future Consensys has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto for an undisclosed sum according to an announcement released on Tuesday. The deal aims to strengthen the company’s Ethereum wallet Metamask and “enhance Web3 experiences.” The eventual merger between the two Ethereum interfaces will “provide users with a heightened experience that is even more extensive and secure,” according to Consensys. Consensys is an Ethereum software company led by one of the Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin. The Web3 wallet Metamask, with 21 million monthly active users (MAUs) is owned by C...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Congolese Mountain of Gold: Surprise Discovery in Africa Shows Metal’s Scarcity Is Hard to Prove

A myriad of gold bugs like to compliment the yellow precious metal for its ostensible scarcity, as estimates say only 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold is produced annually. While new gold discoveries have seemingly slowed, investigative studies also show that in some areas, gold is being smuggled into the economy by the ton, and often never accounted for as far as per annum issuance estimates. Recently, reports show a whole mountain of gold was discovered in the Congo, as the Democratic Republic of the Congo is well known for being a region that sees tons of smuggled gold filtered into the global financial system unreported. Surprise Gold Deposits Continue to Crack the Precious Metal’s Scarcity Proposition It has always been said that the precious metal gold (Au) is scarce, and some reports even say that gold mining on earth will end by the year 2050 . Additionally, estimates also show that there’s roughly 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold that is accounted for and enters into the fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bitcoin Legal Tender in 3 Days but Survey Shows 7 Out of 10 Salvadorans Want Bitcoin Law Repealed

Bitcoin is becoming legal tender in El Salvador in three days. However, a nationwide survey conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) shows that seven out of 10 Salvadorans want the government to repeal the Bitcoin Law. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Goes Into Effect in 3 Days The University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) in El Salvador conducted a study between Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 of how the public views the country’s upcoming Bitcoin Law. The institute is a research center of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA). El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law is set to go into effect on Sept. 7 , when BTC will be legal tender in the country alongside the U.S. dollar. A total of 1,281 respondents ages 18 and over participated in this national survey that “represents the entire adult population residing in the country,” according to the institute. Out of all the respondents, 62.4% said they were aware of the approval of the Bitcoin Law by the deputies of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more