One executive confirms that Mastercard is open to the use of cryptocurrency, but there is a major bias involved.

The banks have been firm in their opposition on the subject, and for a very good reason. The economic market of peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currencies poses a direct threat to the current financial monopoly held by banks and other financial institutions . This is why it was surprising that a Mastercard executive stated that the credit card issuer was open to the global use of cryptocurrencies. However, there is a major trap to this announcement.

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Flipping of jacket
Mastercard has devoted a lot of time and effort to blockchain technology, but it's not really a fan of virtual currencies like Bitcoin. This was clearly evident when Mastercard and Visa classified the purchase of cryptocurrencies as a cash advance instead of a purchase. At the time, the credit card giant said:

Over the last few weeks, we have told buyers - or the merchant's bank - the correct transaction code or merchant category to use for this type of transaction (cryptocurrency purchases). This provides a consistent view of these purchases for both merchants and issuers.

As a result, the use of credit cards to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has become more expensive. Exchanges resulted in higher fees and users started accruing interest from the time they used a card.

The trap
It seems that the financial giant has now changed its tune, but the reality is that this is not the case. Speaking to the Financial Times, Ari Sarker, director of Mastercard, says the company is "very happy" to consider helping the use of cryptocurrencies, but only as long as these virtual currencies are issued by banks power stations.

Ari Sarker says:

If governments seek to create a national digital currency, we would be very happy to look at them in a more favorable way [compared to existing cryptocurrencies.

He goes on to add:

As long as it's supported by a regulator and it's not anonymous, then it meets all the regulatory requirements and it would be more interesting for us to explore that.

Currently, the financial institution is running a pilot program in Japan and Singapore. Customers can withdraw money from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their cards. However, Sarker says the program is not a cryptocurrency exchange program and strict controls such as the fight against money laundering and KYC are in place.

This action of Mastercard should not surprise. Banks want to have their share of the vast amount of revenue that goes through the cryptographic sphere, but they want to do it while exercising total control. Hence the desire to support only crypto-currencies issued by central banks.