Mastercard Executive Emphasizes Challenges and Potential of CBDC Adoption

Mastercard's lead for blockchain and digital assets in the Asia-Pacific region has asserted that customers are currently at ease with traditional currencies, rendering central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) unjustifiableб reports CoinDesk.

Ashok Venkateshwaran, speaking at the Singapore FinTech festival, emphasized the challenge of adoption, stating that CBDCs should provide the flexibility to be spent anywhere, similar to physical cash. Mastercard's CBDC Partner Program, featuring participants like Ripple, Fireblocks, and Consensys, aims to foster industry discussions and strengthen the company's engagement with CBDC advancements. While the number of countries exploring CBDCs has increased significantly, only 11 nations have implemented digital currencies so far.

Venkateshwaran acknowledged the complexity and time-consuming nature of building the required infrastructure, emphasizing the current difficulty in justifying such efforts. Recently, Mastercard concluded a CBDC Pilot in Hong Kong, demonstrating the practical application of CBDCs or tokenized deposits in real-world asset transactions and highlighting the potential for seamless funding and settlement in Web3 marketplaces through retail CBDCs.