Mastercard Completes CBDC Pilot with the Reserve Bank of Australia
- Mastercard completed a CBDC pilot in partnership with the Reserve Bank of Australia.
- The pilot also saw participation from the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Center.
- Mastercard showed how its technology could enable a holder of the CBDC to buy an NFT on ETH.
- The company’s ‘Multi Token Network’ and ‘Crypto Credential’ were used for verification standards and interoperability.
Mastercard, a leading payment-processing company based in the United States, has announced the completion of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in partnership with the Reserve Bank of Australia, the country’s central bank and banknote issuing authority, and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre. Interestingly, multiple countries around the globe are currently testing their own versions of CBDCs.
As per the statement released by MasterCard on October 12, the pilot was conducted to test how authorized parties who would’ve followed KYC protocols could hold, use, and redeem CBDCs. Further, the project also tested how a CBDC holder could purchase an Ethereum-based NFT by “locking” a certain amount of the pilot CBDC on the RBA’s pilot CBDC platform and minting equivalent Ethereum-based wrapped tokens.
Richard Wormald, Division President, Australasia at Mastercard, claims that his firm has seen an increased “demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains,” while adding:
“This technology not only has the potential to drive more consumer choice, but it also unlocks new opportunities for collaboration between the public and private networks to drive genuine impact in the digital currency space.”
A major pre-requirement for the transaction to be initiated was that the Ethereum wallets of both the buyer and seller, along with the NFT marketplace smart contract, were ‘allow-listed’ within the RBA’s pilot CBDC platform, said Mastercard in the announcement, while adding that “with all other transfers of the wrapped pilot CBDC blocked, it successfully demonstrated the platform’s ability to implement controls—even on public blockchains.”
The pilot transaction made use of the ‘Multi Token Network’, which was introduced by Mastercard in June 2023 and is currently in the beta phase. This network’s purpose is to implement more efficient payment and commerce applications using blockchain technology.
“By enabling people to easily move digital currencies on-demand via Mastercard’s trusted network, more consumers could participate in crypto ecosystems using reputable and reliable forms of money while enjoying the benefits that these currencies offer, such as programmability, transparency, and compliance,” added Wormald.
As reported earlier in August by BitcoinWisdom, Mastercard debuted a platform where blockchain projects can collaborate on CBDCs. It also confirmed Ripple, Consensys, and Fireblocks as some of the participants in its CBDC Partner Project.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
