Mastercard Adds a Crypto Track to Its Incubator Program

Global payments giant Mastercard is adding a cryptocurrency and blockchain track to its Start Path incubator program for later-stage startups.

Mastercard offers up experts and technology partnerships with other financial services firms in the program in exchange for adding more innovative companies to its client roster.

Mastercard rival Visa has a similar program called Fast Track that has catered to a number of crypto startups looking to work with Visa and issue debit or credit cards.

Read more: Visa Crypto Cards Have Racked Up $1B in Spending in 2021

As part of Mastercard’s new track, seven digital asset startups have joined: crypto custody platform GK8, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Mintable, crypto investing firm Domain Money, blockchain oracle company SupraOracles, digital assets firm Taurus, blockchain infrastructure company STACS and digital finance platform Uphold.

“Mastercard has been engaging with the digital currency ecosystem since 2015,” Jess Turner, Mastercard’s executive vice president of fintech, said in a press release. “Part of our role is to forge the future of cryptocurrency, and we’re doing that by bridging mainstream financial principles with digital assets innovations.”

Last week, Mastercard announced a pilot with stablecoin issuer Circle to settle transactions in USDC.