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MasterCard Is ‘Very, Very Interested’ In Blockchain Technology

Faded MasterCard Sign. Shawn Nystrand/flickr

When MasterCard invested in Digital Currency Group (DCG) last year, it came as a surprise for many. This was mainly because the payment giant was not “comfortable” with the idea of cryptocurrencies and claimed that risks presented by digital currencies outweigh the benefits.

In a four-page submission to the UK Treasury’s call for information on digital currencies in November 2014, obtained by CoinDesk, MasterCard said, "We would argue that, when compared to MasterCard’s network, the claims pertaining to the speed and safety of digital currencies [do] not hold up, not least given that on average it takes 10 minutes for a block to be verified and that digital currencies are far more susceptible to hacking attacks”, the document read.

However, the company is interested in the technology that underpins digital currencies. Clarifying MasterCard’s stance on blockchain technology in an interview with Business Insider on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Garry Lyons, Chief Innovation Officer of MasterCard, said that the company is "very, very interested" in the technology, however, it is more cautious than its market counterparts as it doesn't want to be "blindsided" if anything going wrong.

"Like the rest of the world, we're interested in seeing where blockchain technology goes and that's why we invested in DCG," Lyons told Business Insider. "The primary reason [we invested in DCG] is that it's connected to 15 different others and they have their fingers in the right pies, so we've got the right engagement right now to see people experimenting with the underlying tech”.

"It's not just the industry that's excited about blockchain - it's the world, everyone. Even at Davos, every single tech panel I have gone to mentions blockchain and some people call it 'the second coming.' But while we think it's very interesting, we don't want to, and no one wants to, be blindsided by rushing into it [as the technology is still developing]."


R3 blockchain consortium has become the most talked about topic in the financial system today as the consortium now includes 42 leading banks. It aims to design and deliver advanced distributed/shared ledger technologies to global financial markets.

Lyons believes that in order for blockchain technology to move to a wider scale, it needs regulation and investment. He added, "R3 is an interesting way of doing that because it brings several interested parties together to experiment with underlying tech. It's a good opportunity for the banks and there's more chance of blockchain technology succeeding as a group than disparate parties."

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