Mastercard's New Crypto Partner Program is the future of crypto here?

Quick update "Mastercard has kicked off a new Crypto Partner Program, teaming up with over 85 companies in the digital asset and payment space to tighten the connection between blockchain tech and the systems that support global trade. The lineup includes crypto exchanges, blockchain developers, fintech firms, and banks like Binance, Circle, Ripple, Gemini, PayPal, and Paxos, as shared by CoinDesk. These companies will work with Mastercard to see how blockchain can mesh with the traditional payment methods banks, merchants, and consumers use worldwide. Since one of the big names in the fiat world is now diving into major crypto partnerships, are we on the verge of a real crypto revolution? Is this the start of a solid integration of cryptocurrencies into regular financial systems? What do you all think?

It sounds good that the fiat giants and interested but my fear is let this not be the era where cryptocurrency privacy is completely lost. It is difficult with all this companies involved and decentralization will not be lost, exploration of blockchain will be good for Giants like Mastercard to increase their streams of revenue but if any era of cryptocurrency is beginning it needs to maintain privacy for users.

Well, Visa is pushing integration with certain stablecoins, isn't it? I think that Mastercard is probably doing something similar, just called it different. Is it good? It somehow is, but it's... less than ideal. The good point is that it helps adoption and maybe gives even more legitimacy to this industry. The bad points are.. that they said crypto, not Bitcoin, and adoption of some random stablecoin is not useful. And yeah, Satoshi's point was to cut the middle man. We seem to miss that. Overall this is imho a rather desperate move (from both Visa and Mastercard) to try not lose too much influence and customers, especially as EU seems to be on the route of coming with alternatives to these US-based over-expensive giants (even if that alternative is oh so far from great - a CBDC).

“Technological flirting with cryptocurrencies” is an expected question. As far as I'm concerned, the fiat world understands that blockchain technology and the popularity of cryptocurrencies are VERY PROMISING. Of course, it is possible to defeat such a competitor, but not 100% and at enormous cost. Therefore, the principle begins to work: if you can't beat them, join them! Or at least, “embrace them in a friendly hug.” But what makes me happy is that such a move by the “fiat pillars of the global financial system” is a sign that the fiat world has entered a stage of acceptance, having passed through a stage of denial

Stablecoins are crypto? When reading the respective whitepapers of the decentralized coins, they don't fit at all. Stablecoins going into a similar direction as Digital Fiat. Sounds like another glory moment and later regret like the big corps joining Bitcoin and now crying about fluctuations.

That's still a good point. If I understand correctly, Mastercard seems to dislike volatile and unregulated assets inherently running on its payment rails. After all, the interest of a giant like Mastercard would mean greater censorship. What Satoshi really wanted was visible Bitcoin adoption on-chain, not just millions of transactions in the company's internal database.

It was only a matter of time before the traditional systems found a way to integrate crypto fully into their systems. It might not even happen now, but little by little, they will find a way to be innovative. Companies, especially financial and tech companies are in an ever dynamic industry so they always try to adapt or be left behind. You can't expect decentralisation or non-KYC from the companies mentioned. Their core business is based on KYC, so even if they integrate crypto into their business, they will still do as all centralised businesses do. It will be the same form of business they do with fiat, but just replace the fiat with crypto.

Yes, unfortunately, we will have to accept the loss of privacy—or rather, its complete loss—in such hybrid systems, since anonymity and centralized financial systems are incompatible. On the other hand, for non-anonymous use—which, in my view, accounts for a much larger share than anonymous use—this will be a huge advantage and a convenience. This will make cryptocurrency more widely adopted, which is generally a plus for cryptocurrencies.

Yeah centralized financial system and anonymity are not compatible you have to trade one for the other, they are lots of progress bitcoin can make partnering with the central financial system but it will take the giving up of anonymity with is a big part to give up. Although I concede that non anonymous usage is larger than anonymous use because people are now less concerned about their privacy.

This is great move and I’m really impressed by how this was initiated by Master Card, a global fiat payment system that has gained trust and confidence all around the world. For this bold move by them, I would only imagine how far this can go but will become of more realistic if a follow up for the possibility of it happening is turned to live. We know how the cryptocurrency market works, using it as a payment system will not suit in to everyone just like the fiat even though they’re a lover of cryptocurrency. Some people just like it as an investment asset and when it comes to spending, they prefer to use the fiat currency for it. This is a great move and bold step by them, it is making us realize more and feel more the primarily invention motive of Satoshi when he first came with the idea of Bitcoin.

And even more, we seem to be cheering for this Mastercard announcement, but we are heavily against CBDCs (eg the one EU is pushing). Imho both are on a similar level. And imho we should push for Bitcoin solutions and support them instead of cheering for whatever stablecoin-to-bank solution, which can be helpful for spending, I don't deny that, but it's not the "real deal".

+1 Mastercard coin, all CBDC have very little to do with crypto. People should read the whitepaper once in a while.

Honestly as a user of mastercard this will be good since Im also in crypto. This will be easier indeed if the two big projects gonna connect their line if business into crypto and vice versa. Imagine how many established partnership of these big firms on global scale and suddenly will have a paetnership in crypto or direct access. Obviously this is good stuff. However,  some will certainly deflects the idea of the decentralized objective which merely dont rely on third party like these firms and disagree on this. As a matter of fact maybe a lot.

We are witnessing the maintenance of the centralized financial era through cryptocurrencies. We are going on the exact opposite direction we were supposed to be going when adopting Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created as an alternative, but it has been integrated as more of the same by the mainstream financial channels. I predict more fees when using this partner program, more taxes for governments and inability of controlling your own coins in your own wallet.

The vision that Satoshi had for Bitcoin has not completely disappeared, but it is increasingly being pushed aside by those who first ignored it, hoping that it would fail, and now want to adapt that idea to themselves (centralize) in order to adapt as much as possible to the digital age. We should not forget that there have been Visa and MC so-called crypto cards for years, even those without KYC - which means that they, as companies, do not mind providing such a service as long as they make a profit from it. The only thing each of us can do is use Bitcoin in the only way that is right, and that means as many on-chain transactions as possible when paying for goods or services.

I see this as a big step backwards since we have deviated from the official path to get rid of fiat influence over our financials in exchange for our privacy and freedom. Supporting stablecoins or supporting bitcoin with monitoring limits is far from the blockchain concept and the purposes for which the bitcoin was first invented. I can't understand why some people feeling joyfulness because of similar news that means applying more centralization by imposing more restrictions.

Can we actually stay away from the fiat system, though? How do you pay for your insurance? Your electric bills, your credit/debit card? Let's face the reality. The cable and TV companies don't accept Bitcoin, and even the grocery stores don't accept Bitcoin yet, so how exactly are we going to completely stay away from the fiat system? The taxis, trains and flight tickets are not in Bitcoin. Hotels and rent are not paid in Bitcoin because they don't accept them yet. How about people who have businesses and need loans from the banks? Do they get the loans in Bitcoin? We have to be realistic. The goal of Bitcoin is not to make you stay completely away from fiat, but to give you an alternative. So right now, you can hold your Bitcoin and pay for what you can with Bitcoin while keeping your savings in Bitcoin. Now, you're not forced to keep it in fiat, where it will easily be monitored or affected by inflation. Whenever I want to pay for something, and they have the option of using Bitcoin, I use it. And I also have an option to receive payment in Bitcoin, but I don't think we can completly stay away from the fiat or traditional system.

These giants don't die easy. It's far from unexpected they do steps in prevailing their business and their ways. I think that it's more realistic to expect to coexist with them for a (quite long) while. Bitcoin is not only for hoarding. Some want to earn it and spend it. And it's okay, it's a currency. And if those people have big difficulties on spending their coins, a solution that will make the things easy... it's not unexpected to be cheered for. You probably know that far too many don't care about white paper, philosophy, or they would give all the KYC details in the world for an extra buck. I do understand your point, but let's not be so black-and-white, there's always something in the middle. And imho it's better to understand and educate; both parties could benefit later on. So being realistic means that there's no room at all for other means of payment than the big established ones? You seem to miss the fact that paying via QR is already spreading nicely, avoiding Visa/MC, even for fiat. You seem to forget the example of El Salvador or Lugano for Bitcoin payments. This solution is a step forward for proving (to the no-coiners) "crypto" usefulness as currency. And I do know that in most areas there's nothing else yet than Visa/MC. I am not against their solution. But we have to keep in mind that it's a solution for them to stay in profit, not for helping us. And we have to keep in mind that our (long term) goal is a different approach.

As I mentioned earlier, for the average consumer—who is simply interested in easily exchanging money or cryptocurrency for everyday goods—privacy concerns are unlikely to play a significant role. After all, yesterday they bought spaghetti and ice cream with a credit card, revealing their identity, and today they’ll fill up their car and buy coffee with Bitcoin, revealing their identity to the system; for such a user, this isn’t a big deal. But they’ll gain convenience.

You can see worldwide that there is a lot more push back and alternatives to the traditional card providers, it makes sense that Mastercard are hedging their bets and choosing some partnerships to keep up. They can be very loose partnerships, maybe just allowing payments into these different providers while all the legal challenges stay with the third party companies. It seems like a win-win situation for all parties really. If places like Europe really do push ahead with trying to launch extra competition to US giants like Visa/Mastercard/American Express then it'll just be more market share squeezed. Mastercard was already working with providers like Paypal for decades, so not sure how they crept into the equation.