James Cirrone

MoneyGram, a company primarily known for its cash transfer services, has plans to offer a noncustodial cryptocurrency wallet by the first quarter of 2024.



The wallet will be built on the Stellar network, which is unsurprising given MoneyGram’s longstanding partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/moneygram-customers-can-now-convert-cash-to-usdc">MoneyGram first integrated with Stellar back in October 2021</a> so customers could convert USDC into cash and vice versa.&nbsp;



Software design company Cheesecake Labs designed the wallet, which will be offered as a zero-fee service until June 2024. The wallet will also have access to MoneyGram’s existing fiat on- and off-ramps on Stellar.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moneygram">MoneyGram</a>’s digital wallet will benefit from a significant network of physical ATMs and payment centers which will allow users to easily off-ramp. There are 350,000 money transfer locations globally, according to the company. 



“Through the services we provide in partnership with SDF, MoneyGram has made strides to create equitable access to the global financial system,” MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes said in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moneygram-announces-plans-to-launch-non-custodial-digital-wallet-301938171.html">statement</a>.



Right now, MoneyGram customers can cash out their digital assets in over 180 countries and buy digital assets with cash in over 30 countries, the company said.&nbsp;



Beyond the widespread ATM access, MoneyGram’s wallet users will also be able to send USDC to other wallet users.&nbsp;



Once the wallet rolls out next year, MoneyGram said it would “expand” its capabilities and introduce new features. There was no mention of what capabilities or features would be added, and a MoneyGram representative didn’t immediately return a request for comment.



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Payments giant MoneyGram plots noncustodial wallet launch

Katherine Ross

MobileCoin has appointed Sara Drakeley as CEO of the global payment infrastructure company.



Drakeley was previously chief technology officer at the firm, though she told Blockworks that she joined MobileCoin five years ago as an engineer following stints at SpaceX and Disney Animation Studios.



MobileCoin, known for its partnership with encrypted messaging app Signal, was in the news earlier this year after its chief product officer, Bob Lee, was killed in San Francisco.



Lee was also the creator of Cash App. The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/arrest-in-bob-lee-killing">SFPD announced an arrest in connection with his killing</a> in April.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cash-app-mobilecoin-bob-lee-killed">Cash App creator Bob Lee killed in San Francisco stabbing</a>



In an interview with Blockworks, Drakeley explained that part of her focus for MobileCoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/mob">MOB</a>) is “solving real problems for real people.”&nbsp;



In particular, she noted, she wants to focus on cross-border payments. Sending “money should be as easy as sending Signal messages,” said Drakeley.&nbsp;



“We are enabling communities globally to take control of their assets securely, hopefully leading to more economic development and stability through reliable infrastructure and easy-to-use mobile applications,” Drakeley said in a press release announcing her appointment on Wednesday.



She added: “The way that the traditional payments infrastructure works today is broken; taking anywhere from a day to a month for people to access their money is unacceptable in the age of rapid technological advancement.”



Drakeley also added that she believes stablecoins are critical for the infrastructure of global payments, and noted that there’s an appetite for them.



In October of last year, MobileCoin — in partnership with Reserve — <a href="https://mobilecoin.com/blog/mobilecoin-launches-eusd">announced</a> its own stablecoin, Electronic Dollars (eUSD), which is its own stablecoin. According to the announcement on the MobileCoin site, eUSD is “always backed by a basket of fully collateralized stablecoins.”



The company is also eyeing an expansion into Latin America and Africa.



“The goal is to provide innovative solutions that cater directly to these markets&#8217; unique needs and challenges and continue its global expansion through feedback from these users,” the press release said.



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MobileCoin’s new CEO wants to focus on cross-border payments

Michael Bodley

Precisely one month after Binance US transitioned to a crypto-only platform by discontinuing its fiat on- and off-ramp services, the exchange seems to be reconsidering its decision.



Binance US has been working on “integrating new [US dollar] on-ramp solutions, such as partnering with third-party payment provider MoonPay” the company told customers in an email on Monday, which was reviewed by Blockworks.



It wasn’t immediately clear what cryptocurrencies would be supported for buying and selling in dollars via the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a> partnership. One indicator pointed to Tether’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdt">USDT </a>as being the sole supported asset at launch.



Representatives for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> US and MoonPay did not immediately return a request for comment. MoonPay supports debit and credit cards, as well as ACH transfers.



The exchange, before the US Securities and Exchange Commission&#8217;s lawsuit earlier this year, previously supported buying most crypto assets via dollar deposits — and, in turn, selling those cryptocurrencies in a dollar conversion, which could then be withdrawn by customers off of Binance’s platform.&nbsp;



An update listed for Binance US’ app on the Apple app store at the end of last week said users could “now buy and sell USDT with USD in-app via <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/moonpay">MoonPay</a>.” 



A MoonPay spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday that the company is “providing a service for those [Binance US] users that want to convert their crypto to fiat and deposit into their US bank account,” adding that MoonPay “performs rigorous KYC [know-your customer] checks on all customers.”



The application on Tuesday continued to refer to Binance US as a “crypto-only exchange,” adding that the stablecoin “USDT is now our new base assets for transactions.” A message posted in the app said customers could purchase Tether’s USDT with dollars.&nbsp;



Users appeared to be able to use Binance US’ platform to buy USDT through MoonPay, which would then be transferred back to a customer’s Binance balance.



Since Binance transitioned to a crypto-only exchange in the wake of its uncertain status amid the <a href="http://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC&#8217;s</a> legal proceedings in the US, there has not been a straightforward method to purchase crypto with fiat currency.



Primary workarounds involve transferring digital assets from external wallets or other exchanges to Binance US and then conducting trades — including via the cryptocurrencies pairs that Binance continues to support.



Earlier this year, several crypto exchanges and companies lost their banking partners when industry-friendly banks like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) faced a liquidity crunch and closed up shop. This sudden banking collapse created a gap in crypto on- and off-ramps for the businesses that depended upon them.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/who-will-bank-crypto">After bank failures, where will crypto firms turn?</a>



Binance US counted as one of its banking service providers Prime Trust, the Nevada-based company that declared bankruptcy.



In an update to its terms of service on Monday, the company said it was engaging with US-based custodians that maintain <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/fdic">FDIC</a> insurance — provided both the relevant Binance US affiliate and the custodian remain in “compliance with the regulatory requirements for pass-through deposit insurance provided by the FDIC.”



Updated Aug. 22, 2023 at 4:47 pm ET: Added a quote from a MoonPay spokesperson.



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Binance US renews banking push with MoonPay deal

The Gnosis Card, a Visa-enabled debit card connected to an on-chain, self-custodial wallet, officially launched Monday on a stage at the Ethereum Community Conference, or EthCC.&nbsp;



The card and its payment network, Gnosis Pay, have been in development for over a year <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN9qMVkkjx4&amp;t=14s">according</a> to Gnosis CEO and co-founder Martin Köppelmann.



The project combines Visa payment technology with Gnosis’ asset management platform called Safe.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gnosis-safe-erc-20-tokens">Gnosis partnered with Monerium earlier this month for European transactions</a>, so now users can pay for items in the real world and online with the Gnosis Card using Monerium’s euro stablecoin, EURe.



At present, this is the only way to successfully complete transactions with the Gnosis Card, co-founder of Gnosis Friederike Ernst told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“You can have any tokens in the wallet — but if you’re out of EURe the [transaction] will decline. We will open this up to other [stablecoins] in Q4,” Ernst said in an email.



Ernst added that onboarded users can pay at any Visa terminal globally, and that if the payment is not in euros, a foreign currency exchange will occur like with any other Visa card.



Users can also connect their desired wallet to the card, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet and more.



In a previous iteration of the project, the card itself was a hardware wallet, which contained a chip holding the private key to sign messages, Ernst explained.&nbsp;



Gnosis realized this version of the card was impractical for a number of reasons, but mainly, users wouldn’t be able to use the Gnosis Card virtually, such as through Apple Pay or Google Pay.



So the team scrapped that idea and went with the current model: having a smart contract wallet linked to the card that uses token allowances.



“What happens now is that you give Gnosis Pay allowance to your smart contract wallet. This means you don’t need to sign the transaction (tx) every time, with the trade-off that you have to trust Gnosis Pay to not abuse the allowance,” Ernst told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Ernst also pointed out that decentralized apps (dapps) frequently use token allowances, and like most of those apps, the user can define the allowance with Gnosis Pay.&nbsp;



If a user loses their Gnosis Card, the assets are stored on Safe. So if that were to happen, a user’s funds wouldn’t be at risk, and they could just order a replacement card.



The project has also developed an application programming interface (API) that allows any crypto community or third-party wallet to issue their own customized Gnosis cards.&nbsp;



The Gnosis Card will be launching exclusively in the UK and Europe. Compatibility is coming next to the US, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and Hong Kong, according to a statement from Gnosis.



Updated July 20, 2023 at 12:27 pm ET: Added additional comment from Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst. Clarified the Gnosis Card&#8217;s function.



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Gnosis Visa debit card debuts in Europe, letting users buy with euro stablecoin

Block’s Bitkey wallet is partnering with Coinbase.



Bitkey, which is a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-is-a-crypto-wallet">self-custody bitcoin wallet,</a> is also launching its global beta. According to Coinbase’s press release, the public release of the Bitkey wallet is slated for a “wider public launch later this year.”



Beta testers for Bitkey have <a href="https://bitkey.build/beta/">access</a> to the mobile app. They also receive a hardware device that has a fingerprint sensor, PIN authentication and mobile recovery, according to the website.



Through the <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/announcing-a-global-partnership-with-blocks-bitkey-wallet">partnership</a>, Bitkey wallet holders will be able to buy bitcoin on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase">Coinbase</a> and transfer the <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a> to their wallet through Coinbase Pay, with fiat payment method fees. Customers will also be able to transfer existing bitcoin.



“The Bitkey app will display the full cost of the transaction being offered by the different partners so that customers can decide which partner is right for them before redirecting to the partner-hosted experience,” Bitkey’s press release said.



Bitkey also <a href="https://bitkey.build/coinbase-and-cash-app/">announced</a> a partnership with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cash-app">Cash App</a>, which also integrates the product into the Bitkey app. Cash App was launched by Block — back when it was Square — in 2013.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“At Bitkey, we’re building a self-custody bitcoin wallet designed to empower the next 100 million people to truly own and manage their bitcoin &#8211; safely and easily,” Lindsey Grossman, Bitkey’s business lead, said.



“Partners play a key role in bringing self-custody to a wider group of people around the world, and we are incredibly proud to have partnered with leading companies like Coinbase to make self-custody both secure and easy to use.”



This is the latest foray into bitcoin products for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/block">Block</a>, with Jack Dorsey’s company also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jack-dorsey-block-bitcoin-mining">seeking to disrupt bitcoin mining</a> by creating its own custom silicon for mining hardware.



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Coinbase to make self-custody ‘secure and easy to use’ with Block’s Bitkey

Casey Wagner

After Silvergate’s March 1 revelation to regulators that it’s in trouble, crypto companies took a step back.&nbsp;



Analysts and investors are wondering how the industry will pivot without a key access point to the traditional banking system.&nbsp;



Coinbase, Paxos and Galaxy Digital are among those that severed ties with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/signature" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Signature</a> in the past week.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/silvergate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Silvergate</a>, a California-based bank dealing with crypto since 2013, shuttered its exchange network, SEN, Friday, leaving many exchanges, market makers and investors unable to move money. Earlier in the week, the bank said in a regulatory filing it could soon be “less than well capitalized.”



“SEN served as one of the only fiat payment rails in the crypto industry and without it liquidity could suffer,” research analysts from Kaiko wrote in a note Monday. “Specifically, it will become harder to quickly deploy fiat capital via exchanges.”&nbsp;



One of the only alternatives for crypto firms appears to be Signature Bank, a New-York based operation that just months ago revealed plans to limit its crypto exposure. In December 2022, Signature said it planned to offload up to $10 billion in deposits related to crypto.&nbsp;



In its 2023 mid-first-quarter <a href="https://s1.q4cdn.com/665033567/files/doc_presentations/2023/03/SBNY-Slides-2023Q1-MidQ.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">update</a>, Signature said its spot deposit balances through January and February had dropped $826 million, &#8220;driven by the deliberate decline in digital asset client related deposits of $1.51 billion.”. &nbsp;



But now, Silvergate’s troubles could make Signature pivot in a new direction if there is market share up for grabs. Signature’s SEN-like product is Signet, a 24/7 payments network available to commercial clients only. 



&#8220;Post Silvergate, it’s evident that institutions and centralized exchanges are actively seeking new banking partners,&#8221; Eric Chen, CEO and co-founder of Injective Labs, said. &#8220;While the shift is ongoing, it’s worth noting that public statements suggest Signature may be one of the immediate beneficiaries of these events.&#8221; 



Another crypto-friendly bank may be stepping on to the scene soon — this time from outside the US. London-based BCB Bank said Monday it would be accelerating plans to add US-dollar payments in the wake of Silvergate. BCB already has a SEN-like settlement system today, but it can only process euros, British pounds and Swiss francs. 



Other options exist, Robert Quartly-Janeiro, chief strategy officer at Bitrue, said, but it&#8217;s unclear if they are substantial enough to take Silvergate&#8217;s place. 



&#8220;Whilst Signature Bank, BVNK, and Fiat Republic, amongst others, remain alternatives, in some cases they won’t be enough if you look at Binance and Kraken’s dealings with Signature in recent times,&#8221; Quartly-Janeiro said. &#8220;In some ways there’s a big opportunity for a new player to emerge or be formed – that’s quite exciting.&#8221; 



Still, Silvergate’s departure leaves a significant gap in the market right now, Cody Carbone, vice president of policy at the Chamber of Digital Commerce, said.&nbsp;



“We’re still very early, and I think it’ll take some time and regulatory guardrails before more banks offer SEN-like products, but the demand is there to have quicker, 24/7 banking,” Carbone said. “I don’t think anyone is coming to the rescue anytime soon.”&nbsp;



The regulatory headwinds crypto companies are facing, particularly in the US, make it hard to have anything else take priority, Carbone said.&nbsp;



Silvergate’s situation comes amid a tumultuous time for crypto banking. In what many have dubbed “operation choke point,” industry members say there has been a concerted effort to keep crypto companies isolated from the banking system.&nbsp;



“[Bitfury CEO] Brian Brooks put it best…the point of a bank and banking regulation is not to keep risk out of the market, it is to provide a safe and secure place for those risks to be contained,” Carbone said. “My hope is that as public interest in crypto increases, so will bank activity to adhere to customer demands.”



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No More SEN. Now What?

Bessie Liu

Global payments processing company Stripe is launching its own fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, allowing customers to exchange dollars for cryptocurrencies.



Stripe’s new transactions solution is billed as a customizable widget, which can be directly embedded within different DeFi platforms.&nbsp;



The most common way to on-ramp fiat-to-crypto today is to purchase cryptocurrencies through a centralized exchange — including the likes of Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and the recently deceased FTX. To partake in DeFi, one then transfers the cryptocurrency to a third-party wallet.



As a major payments processor for prominent Web2 companies, such as Apple and Walmart, Stripe’s decision to step further into the crypto world during a time when centralized exchanges are under heightened scrutiny can help DeFi become more accessible to mainstream consumers.&nbsp;



“It’s extremely difficult to get end users ‘on chain’— that is, to fund their wallets with the crypto required to interface with Web3 applications,” Jennifer Lee, product manager at Stripe, wrote in a <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/crypto-onramp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>.&nbsp;



Lee added: “Developers have to wrestle with rampant fraud; navigate complex KYC requirements; and somehow still offer a seamless, high-conversion payments experience so that their users can actually use their Web3 applications.”



Stripe says it will handle tasks related to KYC requirements, payments, fraud and compliance.



Companies that <a href="https://support.link.co/questions/which-websites-support-purchasing-crypto-with-link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">already partner</a> with Stripe for fiat-to-crypto on-ramp services include NFT marketplace Magic Eden, social NFT platform Nifty&#8217;s, and decentralized exchange Orca.



There are very limited ways to use DeFi services without a centralized mediator. Stripe’s latest fiat-to-crypto onramp will compete with non-custodial exchanges, such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kado-brings-fiat-on-off-ramp-to-cosmos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kado</a>, which recently moved to bring its on- and off-ramp services to Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Cosmos and Axelar.



Kado welcomes the new competition.



&#8220;It&#8217;s great to see more established payment companies coming into the space, which has been part of our thesis all along,&#8221; CEO Emery Andrew told Blockworks via e-mail, adding &#8220;Payments innovation has always been one of the no brainer use cases for blockchain and cryptocurrency.&#8221;



Born out of the old Terra ecosystem, Kado initially launched a Terra UST native on-ramp and now supports Cosmos, Avalanche, Ethereum, and Solana, allowing transfers from bank accounts directly to wallets in fewer than five minutes.



For now, Stripe’s new products are slated to only be available to US customers, with availability to other countries in the works.



Updated on Dec. 2, 2022 at 1:44 pm ET: A comment from Kado was added.



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Stripe Enables Fiat-to-crypto On-ramp

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6352decaeeb68" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Tether has gained market share from USDC in recent months, growing to 48% of the stablecoin market</li>
 <li>Three times more USDC is bought with USD versus non-USD currencies, according to Coinbase</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The two largest stablecoins could become much more prominently used outside the US following actions by one of the largest crypto exchanges and an ATM operator.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Coinbase — which called its USDC stablecoin “our vision for the most trusted and reputable digital dollar” in a <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/increasing-access-to-usdc-internationally-commission-free-trading" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> Thursday — said it plans to waive commission fees when customers buy and sell USDC with any fiat currency in an effort to boost adoption of the stablecoin overseas.



“Our research shows that…[three times] more USDC is bought with USD versus non-USD currencies,” the blog said. “In part this is because, outside of the US, users usually have to pay fees in the process of converting their local currency into USDC, and this is a barrier to broader international adoption.”



Coinbase’s plan to waive fees on USDC transactions came the same day Tether revealed payment processor SmartPay intends to launch tether (USDT) tokens in more than 24,000 ATMs across Brazil on Nov. 3.&nbsp;



<a href="https://valorinveste.globo.com/produtos/servicos-financeiros/noticia/2021/04/27/34-milhoes-de-brasileiros-ainda-nao-tem-acesso-a-bancos-no-pais.ghtml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A study by Instituto Locomotiva</a> last year found Brazil had 34 million unbanked adults — one of the highest proportions in the world. Brazilian digital bank Nubank had 1 million customers trading crypto just weeks after launching its digital assets platform, the company said in July.&nbsp;



Brazil had nearly $150 billion in crypto value received between July 2021 and June 2022 — the most of any Latin American country, according to <a href="https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2022-global-crypto-adoption-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Chainalysis report</a> last month. Roughly 26% of small retail-sized crypto transaction volume — less than $1,000 — in Brazil comes from the sale of stablecoins, per the study.&nbsp;



“The difficulties and limitations imposed by inflation and a less-than-inclusive financial system has excluded many of Brazil’s citizens from being able to participate in the country&#8217;s growing economy,” Tether Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. “Adding tether tokens to ATMs across Brazil provides the opportunity to include more people in the financial system.”&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The prevalence of stablecoins</h3>



USDT’s market capitalization was roughly $68.5 billion Friday afternoon in New York, while USDC’s was $43.8 billion. The coins rank third and fifth, respectively, in terms of market cap, behind bitcoin and ether. The crypto exchange Binance’s native BNB token has the fourth-highest market cap at $44 billion.



Tether has nearly 48% of the stablecoin market share, according to <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/data?category=stablecoins&amp;chart=stablecoin-market-share" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research data</a>, while USDC holds about 30%.



USDC’s market share has shrunk from about 36% 90 days ago, data shows, with USDT and Binance USD (BUSD) each gaining ground over that span.&nbsp;



USD-denominated stablecoins as a whole continue to be a popular choice for enterprise crypto payments, making up 60% of the crypto payments on Request Finance, the company said in <a href="https://www.request.finance/post/request-finance-in-numbers-september-2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an Oct. 4 report</a>.&nbsp;



USDC is the most-preferred crypto on the app, with $246 million in transactions between its launch in January 2021 and Oct. 4. The stablecoin accounts for 34% of all invoices on the platform, while USDT makes up 14%.



“The popularity of stablecoins can be explained with many of the same reasons why most people do business in fiat, rather than settling payments in shares of tech companies listed on the NASDAQ,” Request Finance said in the report. “Their stable prices make them ideal as a medium of exchange and unit of account — two of the three defining features of money.”



FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried called stablecoin regulation <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sam-bankman-fried-stablecoins-are-low-hanging-fruit-for-crypto-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the “lowest-hanging fruit”</a> earlier this month. A first step for issuers, he said, is ensuring there are as many dollars backing the number of stablecoins in circulation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Tether reported last week it had <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tether-says-usdt-stablecoin-now-backed-by-t-bills/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eliminated commercial paper from its stablecoin reserves</a>, replacing the financial instruments with US Treasurys in an attempt to increase transparency and liquidity. Tether has long been dogged for its purported opaque reserves, with concerns having mounted around potential illiquid backing.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-could-pose-risks-to-us-stability-fed-adviser/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A recent report published by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC)</a> said passing legislation to regulate stablecoins is among 10 steps to lessen the risk cryptoassets pose.



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Coinbase, SmartPay Efforts Could Boost USDC, USDT Usage Outside US

<div id="highlights-block_634d6c8c4f40a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Mastercard survey found 65% of respondents wanting their financial institution to offer crypto-related services</li>
 <li>The payments giant earlier this month revealed a dashboard designed to track where cardholders are purchasing crypto products</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Mastercard is delving deeper into the cryptoasset business by offering banks the ability to provide trading capabilities to customers, as it seeks to utilize recent acquisitions and partnerships.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Institutional partners involved in Mastercard’s Crypto Source program are set to gain access to buy, hold and sell certain cryptoassets, the company revealed Monday.&nbsp;



A Mastercard spokesperson told Blockworks the initiative is being prepared for pilot programs, noting that the company is working out which assets will be supported.



The upcoming program comes after banking giant <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bny-mellon-moves-to-let-institutions-hold-bitcoin-ether/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BNY Mellon said last week</a> that it would allow certain institutional clients the ability to hold and transfer bitcoin and ether on its new crypto custody platform in the US. Industry watchers and executives <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/qa-cf-benchmarks-ceo-says-institutions-more-interested-than-ever-in-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have said</a> that TradFi institutions are opting to get more involved in the segment despite the ongoing crypto winter.



Mastercard is also set to offer banks and fintechs security management, the ability to spend and cash out crypto, as well as product development and consulting services.&nbsp;



Blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos is slated to provide the cryptoasset trading and custody services on behalf of the banks, while Mastercard will use its technology to integrate those services into banks’ interfaces.



Mastercard had previously partnered with Paxos — as well as others such as Evolve Bank &amp; Trust and Circle — last year in an effort to streamline crypto-to-fiat conversions.



“Our commitment is simple — to explore crypto and the underlying digital assets technology to support consumer choice in payments,” Mastercard Chief Digital Officer Jorn Lambert said in a statement. “Today is an exciting step in our crypto journey that draws on the strengths of our global businesses, from open banking and identity verification to analytics and fraud monitoring to settlement solutions.”



Nearly 30% of respondents of Mastercard’s <a href="https://www.mastercard.com/news/perspectives/2022/digital-payment-landscape-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2022 New Payments Index</a> — published in June — held crypto as an investment, with another 65% reporting a preference for their current financial institution to offer crypto-related services.



Ajay Bhalla, the company’s president of cyber and intelligence, said in a statement that Mastercard’s acquisitions last year of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mastercard-to-acquire-crypto-intelligence-company-ciphertrace/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crypto intelligence company CipherTrace</a> and customer identity verification company Ekata give it a unique edge.



Mastercard said earlier this month that it was using data from CipherTrace <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mastercard-is-tracking-where-and-how-cardholders-buy-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to launch Crypto Secure</a>, a dashboard designed to track where cardholders are purchasing crypto products.  



The payments company last month <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mastercard-hi-launch-nft-customized-debit-cards-as-nft-interest-dips/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched a debit card</a> allowing users to customize their own NFT avatars. It also partnered with crypto exchange Binance to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-and-mastercard-to-bring-streamlined-crypto-payments-to-argentina/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">offer a prepaid crypto card</a> in Argentina, and with Middle Eastern digital asset gateway Fasset to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mastercard-partners-with-fasset-to-drive-financial-inclusion-in-indonesia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expand its services</a> to Indonesia.



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New Mastercard Program Looks To Offer Crypto Capabilities to Banks

<div id="highlights-block_633d73c1258ee" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>First nation to commit to a central bank digital currency will start “an avalanche of very similar types of evolution,” Tim Neill says</li>
 <li>Non-crypto firms such as Mastercard will be unable to pivot at a speed that blockchain technology demands, according to the Copper executive</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The new chief risk officer at Copper is looking to put his extensive traditional finance background to work to help the crypto custodian mix the best of banking operations with a DeFi slant.



Tim Neill comes from Mastercard, where he helped the financial services giant bolster its real-time payments business. He joined the company through Mastercard’s acquisition of payment systems builder VocaLink in 2016 for roughly $920 million.&nbsp;



A former executive at Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and London Stock Exchange Group, Neill has focused on payments, open banking, financial services and technology over the course of his career.



Founded by Dmitry Tokarev in 2018, Copper provides custody, prime brokerage and settlement services to institutional investors.&nbsp;



Neill’s hire followed the company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/copper-hires-five-former-staff-from-bank-of-america/">bringing aboard five former Bank of America Merrill Lynch employees</a> to lead the expansion of its prime infrastructure offerings. Copper also hired former Citi executive Sabrina Wilson — to whom Neill will report — as chief operating officer.



Neill sat down with Blockworks for an interview about what he is keeping an eye on in his new role and what trends he is seeing in the broader crypto space.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Blockworks: What were you focused on at Mastercard?



Neill: I was running the [real-time] payments business, and then we decided to diversify even further, and we started getting into digital assets, CBDCs, cross-border payments…The approach to build core real-time payment systems really becomes the foundational rail with which to add on all these services.



One of the things I became quite passionate about through that time at Mastercard was looking at financial inclusion.



You have to be able to democratize the access to financial services for parts of the world that simply won’t be able to get what we consider to be mature market access vehicles. What’s happened over the recent years is an explosion in cellular connectivity across these emerging markets and frontier markets.



Blockworks: How does this relate to crypto?



Neill: When you start looking at democratizing financial payment vehicles, that inevitably takes you down the path toward looking to be able to connect those people through real-time banking payment solutions on a cellular platform.



One of the things that became hugely obvious to me is that digital assets, in their various forms and functions, suddenly get presented to this community that previously has had virtually zero exposure to banking options.



So you can be a subsistence farmer in the hillsides of Thailand and you can be trading on eToro. You can be deciding that you actually want to drop more money into [a cryptoasset]…and you’re doing it through your smartphone and the trade is in real time.



Blockworks: Why did you join Copper in this role?



Neill: All of that tech stack [at Mastercard] fascinated me, and we were doing lots of work on being able to convert our core payments rails at a national level into different forms of enablement through digital asset activity.



One of the challenges that Mastercard will have — and I saw the same challenges at Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank — is that they are big, old institutions that have been making cookies a certain way for 50 years, and suddenly now they have to pivot to quite a different business model. The challenge for them is going to be that they are bound by often pre-existing banking legislation and restrictions that prohibit their ability to pivot at a speed that the technology demands.



One of the reasons Copper appealed to me…is the fact that it’s purpose-built. It is a specialist shop that looks at just digital assets.



Another thing I saw that also spurred my interest in coming over to Copper was that Covid accelerated that take-up of cellular-based democratization of financial inclusion.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-33533" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=800 800w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=392 392w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=329 329w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-05-Tim-Neill-1.png?w=50 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>Tim Neill, Copper Chief Risk Officer</figcaption></figure>



Blockworks: What will you be most focused on at Copper?



Neill: Our plan is to take the best bits of banking and financial operations, but cut that against a DeFi approach. That is where we need to use those particular risk governance aspects that help support the business and give a high level of trust for our clients.



We basically need to drive an agenda where we help really set a theme and a tone within the industry. We need to look at starting to publish statements and whitepapers and approaches to things like custody services in this new style of service provision.



And the way that we can do that really is by utilizing some of the brain work of the folks that are inside the shop that have come from the big houses and have been doing it for many years and turn that into a pragmatic digital assets methodology that will satisfy the client expectations but also will meet the legislation that’s due to come out.



We’re waiting for legislation. We want it to come, because that gives us the guide rails that we need. But in the interim, what we fully intend to do is to interact with the regulators and the legislators and talk to them and understand what they expect from us, so we can do it the right way early. And then my hope is that we can then help influence the way that should be developed.



[Our clients] are now asking us about the technology stack that we’re intending to use, and they’re interested in being able to utilize that as a potential service provider. Similar to the way big institutions struggle to change their business model very fast, because we’re building it from scratch, in theory we build it faster, better and more prescribed.



Blockworks: What do you expect to see from a crypto regulation standpoint?



Neill: What I’m hoping to see legislative-wise is a common-sense approach using the technology that’s in place today. So we’re going to see the modernization of things like blockchain enablement.



The reality is that we wanted to use enough that we’re reflective of the clients’ expectations, but we’re not looking to add bureaucratic noise on top of what’s already there. Anyone who works in banking and anyone who has to deal with banks, which is the majority of the mature markets, finds it hugely frustrating for a bunch of reasons.



A lot of that’s come about because there’s been issues in the past with the way banks have managed themselves. Because we’re looking at blockchain enablement and distributed ledger technologies, many of those fundamental issues go away — things like man-in-the-middle attacks or spoof ID-type approaches and KYC elements — because of the blockchain methodology being used.



So what I’m hoping for is that the legislation reflects that, and we want to try to influence that conversation by supporting those regulators and talking to them about what we’re building, how we think it should run, creating conversations between us and counterparties around the world and establishing a footprint in those territories as a licensed business to make a statement to those regulators that we mean business.



Blockworks: What part of the space do you have your eye on going forward?&nbsp;



Neill: I want to see who’s going to lead the race on CBDCs. Which nation-state is going to come forward, hammer that peg into the ground, and say we are pegging against X currency, and it’s going to look like this, it’s going to operate like this?&nbsp;



When that first central bank comes forward and makes that statement, I think you’ll see an avalanche of very similar types of evolution take place across the central bank layers.&nbsp;



Blockworks: Who do you expect could be first?



Neill: I really do believe they’re all waiting for someone else to hammer in the first peg…whether it’s the Singaporeans, whether it’s going to be the Fed. It could be an outlier — a France or a Denmark — or it could even be wider afield out of Africa.



Many of the central banks particularly across the [Gulf Cooperation Council] states — the UAE, Saudi, Qatar — are very advanced, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them pops up first with perhaps something like an oil and gas pegging or a gold alignment. That would make a lot of sense, and you could see how they could leverage that.



That’s a very exciting opportunity for us, because all of a sudden we can start talking about setting a custody service against this whole new digital agenda.&nbsp;



This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.



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Copper Chief Risk Officer Says ‘Cellular Explosion’ Will Accelerate Crypto Usage

Jack Kubinec

<div id="highlights-block_62b9d1da21045" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Some NFT merchants are increasing their mint prices to maintain fiat value</li>
 <li>Mastercard and Stripe are creating systems to exchange NFTs with fiat currency</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Downstream from the general decline in cryptocurrency prices, NFT creators face a trade-off: increase their mint price in crypto terms — or book steep fiat losses.&nbsp;



The price-depressed crypto market favors NFT (non-fungible token) collectors, as creators conscientious of ethical and pragmatic implications hesitate to raise their mint prices — the cost of creating a digital collectible on a blockchain, such as Ethereum.&nbsp;



Sellers looking to avoid losses have often had to double or triple their initial mint prices. Because of the price volatility, traditional payment processors are collaborating with NFT marketplaces to make fiat payment mainstream in the space.



Social media website 9GAG faced the pricing dilemma with its recent Memeland “YOU THE REAL MVP” NFT rollout. Memeland ran a blind auction on Discord that set the mint price at 5.3 ether. From the time bidding opened June 9 to when the NFTs were distributed June 16, the price of ETH fell from more than $1,800 to under $1,100.&nbsp;



Memeland <a href="https://twitter.com/memeland/status/1537141451162718209?s=20&amp;t=BFazRoAFmkeW6pFjHdWgtw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> it maintained the initial mint price — despite ether’s fall — to avoid sending “a wrong message that we would change price in order to maximize gain.” 



Memeland went on to thank its buyers for their “trust…despite the bad market conditions.” Artists are weighing their buyers’ continued trust as they consider whether to increase mints.



Jill Brandenburg, an NFT artist whose Andy Warhol-inspired work was displayed in Times Square this month, is “giving collectors the benefit of the dip” in ETH.&nbsp;



“If I raised my prices and had to lower them back down, I wouldn’t feel like I ethically did right by my collectors,” Brandenburg said. “.12 ETH is .12 ETH, no matter what the market determines.”&nbsp;



But with crypto exchanges riled by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/babel-finance-working-to-ease-unusual-liquidity-pressures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">liquidity issues</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/security-threat-exposed-for-browser-based-crypto-wallets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">security concerns</a>, collectors are not, for the most part, buying the dip. Primary and secondary NFT sales are both down more than 20% in volume and fiat value over the past week, according to <a href="https://nonfungible.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NonFungible.com</a>.



NFT merchants must reckon with the financial consequences of falling crypto prices. WAGMI Beach gave its new Bubblegoose Ballers NFT collection a price tag of two SOL (the native token of Ethereum competitor Solana’s blockchain) —&nbsp; around $300 — when the project hit in May.&nbsp;



Last week, WAGMI Beach increased the mint to seven SOL to match its original projected fiat value.&nbsp;



“Because we are a prime example of an NFT that is actually bridging the gap between web2 and web3, our required funding is viewed in fiat rather than SOL,” the company <a href="https://twitter.com/BubblegooseXYZ/status/1535336183877750786?s=20&amp;t=Zu0rBAlq2-WvBJpHzUm6iw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>. “Therefore, our mint price is still tied to that $250-300 range, not 2 SOL.”



Allowing mints to be set in fiat is becoming a trendy solution to the volatility of the NFT market. Mastercard and Stripe both launched initiatives to integrate their payment services with NFT marketplaces this year. The companies aim to disrupt the system of NFTs being exchanged between wallets.



“Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are used to this process. But for most people, it&#8217;s not simple, it’s not intuitive. We think it should be much easier,” Raj Dhamodharan, a blockchain-focused executive at Mastercard, said in a January blog post.&nbsp;



If Mastercard’s plan succeeds, mints will be available via fiat.&nbsp;



Sean Stein Smith, a professor at Lehman College who studies blockchain, believes price volatility is a “large obstacle” to broader adoption of unique digital collectibles. The stability of fiat currency as a backdrop for buyers and sellers would draw new consumers to NFTs and “attract ideas and capital into more fundamentally sound projects,” Smith said.



Smith underscored how the technological basis of NFTs remains unchanged — despite falling crypto values. To focus only on price, instead of potential <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/seansteinsmith/2022/06/19/nft-meltdowns-are-paving-the-way-for-better-use-cases/?sh=7075992d40a4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">use cases</a>, is like “focusing your eyes on the crust of the steak [instead of] how it’s cooked and how it tastes.”



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payments systems