Visa, Mastercard Pause Partnerships with Crypto, After Industry Melt Down

By Yehudit Garmaise

When crypto was a hot new financial idea, Visa and Mastercard planned to launch "crypto-backed payment cards," but after the new industry showed signs of melting down, the credit card giants chose to indefinitely delay the launches of their new crypto-related products and services.

Crypto is a digital currency that travels through computer networks instead of banks or governments. 

In late 2021, Mayor Eric Adams, trying to increase enthusiasm for crypto, promised to take his first three paychecks in the digital currency. He lost a considerable chunk of his paychecks as crypto began to crash in 2022.

Investors' faith in crypto, which was already shaky amidst losses, crumbled after FTX and BlockFi, which were once major players in the crypto industry, both filed for bankruptcy, causing the US government to increase its regulatory scrutiny of the new industry, Reuters reported.

"Recent high-profile failures in the crypto sector are an important reminder that we have a long way to go before crypto becomes a part of mainstream payments and financial services," said a spokesperson for Visa, the world's largest payment processor, which is not abandoning its crypto strategies.

A spokesperson for Mastercard also said the credit card giant will "continue to focus on the underlying blockchain technology and how that can be applied to help address current pain points and build more efficient systems."

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