“The Mastercard Economics Institute released their annual forecast for the coming year which shows how a new multi-speed global economy will impact growth and consumer spending behavior. A multi-speed global economy means some markets will feel the impact of inflation and rising interest rates more keenly. ‘Economic Outlook 2023’ draws on a multitude of public and proprietary data sets, as well as models that are intended to estimate economic activity across the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.”

“According to Mastercard SpendingPulseTM, U.S. retail sales excluding automotive increased 7.6% year-over-year this holiday season, running from November 1 through December 24. Mastercard SpendingPulse measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment and is not adjusted for inflation. Key trends this holiday season, included…”

“Polygon is partnering with neo-banking app Hi and Mastercard to launch the first personalized NFT debit card. Holders of the new card will be able to spend their crypto and accumulate Spend Rewards of up to 10%. Basically, Polygon wallet holders will be able to personalize their new Mastercard debit card with a favorite image, in the NFT format. Not only that, the card will be able to be used to spend cryptocurrency and fiat at more than 90 million Mastercard merchants scattered around the world.”

“Whenever James Lynn returned home to London from a beach holiday in the Mediterranean, his post-vacation calm would shatter the moment he saw the charges on his bank statement for using his debit card abroad…Travelers have long chafed at these fees, which help cover the costs of processing international payments, and a new wave of challenger banks and startups are finding ways to harness technology to tackle the challenge. That’s how Currensea was born.”

“You are mistaken if you believe that the crypto winter has kept investors away from the DeFi Market. Web3 is the new battleground for the majority of businesses as they strive to establish their presence. Mastercard is not an exception, as the corporation submitted an application for yet another active trademark on Monday. The focus of the upcoming operation is on cryptocurrencies. Mastercard is rapidly expanding within Web3, with a focus on cryptocurrencies in particular. Monday, trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis announced the new trademark on his Twitter page. Mastercard’s most recent effort in this regard was filing a trademark application for crypto-related security services. The “Mastercard Crypto Secure” application was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office on November 22. This filing follows those trademarks the financial behemoth submitted in April to enter the metaverse and adopt NFTs. Following this, the financial entity began cooperating with NFT markets and Web3 providers to enable users to make NFT purchases using their Mastercard cards.”

“Mastercard introduced The Belle Block™ in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), during the 11th edition of the Mastercard LAC Innovation Forum. The Belle Block™ is a community launched in June 2022 to educate and empower women and non-binary individuals to benefit from Web3 technology and crypto. This expansion to the region comes in partnership with WAGMI LatAm, an education initiative aimed at bringing 5 million Latin women into Web3 by 2030. Mastercard believes in the power of technology and its ability to build a better future that includes everyone. This new group focuses on delivering on key building blocks: Business Growth, Education, Leadership, Legal & Regulatory Advocacy and Entrepreneurship.”

“Michael Miebach – Chief Executive Officer of Mastercard – thinks it will take more time than expected for crypto to become mainstream. However, he is optimistic that the asset class will become much more attractive to people once watchdogs impose appropriate regulations. In a recent interview, Mastercard’s CEO outlined that an increasing number of investors want to delve into the cryptocurrency market. The payment services giant allows them to do so “as easy and more importantly as safe” as any rival company, he added. Miebach sees a future world where most consumers across the globe use bitcoin in their everyday transactions and settlements. Nonetheless, he believes this will not happen in the upcoming months: “I think it’s a long way to go before crypto becomes mainstream.””

“Seven startups from around the world seek to champion innovation through the Mastercard Start Path program: There is no single vision for the crypto economy other than anyone who uses crypto should be able to do so simply and safely. For Mastercard, it’s about offering choice in how people pay, spend and buy crypto. Our role is to provide a best-in-class user experience and scale to offer this choice. NFTs, blockchain gaming and metaverse experiences could transform how consumers shop and communicate, however we need to collaborate and bring together tech, banking, fintech and crypto to unlock this potential…Through the Mastercard Start Path global startup engagement program, we work with digital asset, blockchain and cryptocurrency-based companies that share a vision to make blockchain technology and digital assets more accessible. These companies are making strides to bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 and meet consumers where they are today. We’re welcoming a new cohort of startups to ease access to digital assets, build communities for creators and empower people to innovate for the future through Web3 technologies.” Companies: Digital Treasures Center (DTC) [Singapore]; Fasset [Abu Dhabi]; Loot Bolt [U.S.]; Quadrata [U.S.]; Stable® [Colombia]; TBTM (Take Back the Mic) Studios [Dubai]; Uptop [U.S.]”

“Today, McAfee Corp., a global leader in online protection, announced an exclusive partnership with Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, to offer Mastercard personal and small-medium size business cardholders access to award-winning online protection solutions. In 2021, 83% of organizations reported experiencing phishing attacks, a 46% increase over 2020, and a number that is expected to grow in 2022. Mastercard is dedicated to connecting and powering an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Providing Mastercard cardholders with the tools to help combat growing security threats is one of the many steps towards combating bad actors and stopping damage from major breaches before they do lasting harm. McAfee offers for Mastercard US cardholders are…”

“Mastercard has launched Mastercard Gamer Xchange (MGX), allowing APAC consumers to convert their rewards points into gaming currency. It says the MGX platform is the world’s first conversion engine that allows consumers to convert unspent rewards points into gaming currency across nearly 4,000 gaming titles. Mastercard says it works through a simple API integration on the loyalty platform, allowing fast and seamless redemption. The company says with COVID-19 and its accompanying restrictions affecting once regular activities such as shopping, travel, and dining, people have increasingly turned to alternative avenues of entertainment such as gaming to satisfy their need for richer and more diverse experiences. Simultaneously, Mastercard says consumers have been constrained by their inability to redeem their accumulated rewards points, triggering a sense of dissatisfaction amongst them while also posing a significant financial liability for loyalty program owners. The company says MGX presents itself as an intuitive, innovative, and intelligent solution that addresses this gap in the ecosystem.”

“The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has recently announced its shift to 100% recycled plastic cards in partnership with Mastercard. This long-term initiative is part of the bank’s ongoing efforts to embed environmental sustainability within its daily operations. In addition to the bank’s continuous strides towards implementing ESG practices, NBB will now produce all of its credit and prepaid cards with 100% recyclable material to reduce the bank’s environmental impact, plastic waste and pollution. The recent initiative will be implemented on all newly procured cards in line with NBB’s commitment to responsible banking. Through the partnership, NBB aims to decrease its annual production of plastic after studies revealed that around 6 billion payment cards are produced annually and replaced every 3 to 5 years, resulting in an increase in harmful landfill waste across the world.”

“Mastercard today introduces Crypto SourceTM, a new program to enable financial institutions to bring secure crypto trading capabilities and services to their customers. The 2022 Mastercard New Payments Index reported that 29% of respondents globally hold cryptocurrency as an investment, with another 65% indicating a preference for crypto-related services to be provided by their current trusted financial institution.* In partnership with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers, Mastercard’s financial institution partners will gain access to a comprehensive suite of buy, hold and sell services for select crypto assets, augmented with proven identity, cyber, security and advisory services. This Crypto Source offering is complemented by Mastercard Crypto SecureTM to bring additional security to the crypto ecosystem and support card issuers in their compliance with complex regulations. Now, Mastercard’s suite of crypto-related offerings for banks and fintechs includes…”

“Mastercard highlighted on Wednesday five different areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Digital Asset and Blockchain Products & Digital Partnerships at Mastercard, explained: “Digital assets like cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies [CBDCs] have the potential to transform the financial system’s infrastructure.” He added that non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain gaming, and metaverse experiences “could change how consumers shop and communicate.””

“Data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are the top technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that are powering fintech solutions, found a Mastercard study on the state of fintech in the Middle East and Turkey markets*.  The white paper titled ‘The Future of Fintech: Smart, Scalable, Collaborative’ was released during Fintech Surge in GITEX Global 2022, one of the leading technology events in the Middle East. Mastercard is a Strategic Sponsor of Fintech Surge where senior global and regional executives are speaking at multiple panel discussions, fireside chats and presentations.”

“Financial services giant Mastercard has developed a new type of contactless card that incorporates quantum cryptography, designed to protect against hacks from current classical computers and future quantum computers. The enhanced contactless card uses standards recently revealed by finance industry technical body EMVCo known as “the EMV Contactless Kernel Specifications” that work with all existing payment terminals while also providing higher levels of security that are also “future proof”. When quantum computing technology reaches a point known as quantum supremacy, where the machines can perform near errorless calculations impossible with classical computers, it will also render current cryptography solutions simple to crack, meaning specific quantum security will be required. Experts expect this point to be reached by 2025-2027.    Mastercard says its new card is a “significant milestone that brings quantum-era security and privacy protection to contactless payments”. It will come with next-generation algorithms and cryptographic keys that have been designed to be fast, ensuring a contactless payment happens in under half a second, according to payment vendor, along with enhanced privacy protections to reduce the amount of account information shared between the consumer device and merchant terminal.”