Mastercard Confirms Partnership with Polygon Blockchain
- Mastercard has partnered with popular Ethereum scaling solution, Polygon blockchain, to release it Artist Accelerator program.
- At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Mastercard revealed that the program is designed to help musical artists grow their brands.
- The financial services provider said that the program will end later in 2023 with a live-streamed artist showcase.
- The accelerator program to connect musicians from around the world with mentors in Web3.
On Friday, renowned global payment processing giant Mastercard announced that it is partnering with the Polygon blockchain to release its Mastercard Artist Accelerator.
During the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mastercard revealed that the program is designed to help musical artists grow their brands through minting NFTs, cultivating a digital presence, and building a community. While the payment giant has not yet disclosed who all can participate in the accelerator, it said that the program will end later in 2023 with a live-streamed artist showcase. The press release by the company states:
“Kicking off in spring 2023, the Mastercard Artist Accelerator will prepare five emerging artists—such as musicians, DJs, producers—with the tools, skills, and access to forge their own musical paths in the digital economy.”
With its accelerator program to connect musicians from around the world with mentors in Web3, Mastercard aims to create a venue for music content creation, collaboration, and ownership.
Notably, the program will feature a limited edition NFT—the Mastercard Music Pass—which will give holders exclusive access to high-quality music educational materials, unique resources, and several other physical and digital experiences. Mastercard states:
“With this token, fans can join the platform and learn alongside artists to sharpen their own tools and knowledge of the space.”
NFTs, which have proven to be a lucrative side project for music artists around the world in the past, help creators provide proof of ownership, authenticity, and membership in a group.
The NFT industry is seeing participation from renowned names in the music industry, including Deadmau5, Mike Shinoda, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Grimes, 3Lau, Jacques Greene, Tory Lanez, and Kings of Leon.
In March last year, famous music artist Grimes sold a visual art collection for more than $6 million. That same month, renowned EDM musician 3LAU made an astounding sale, where he made $11.3 million from an NFT auction.
Mastercard’s Crypto Push
As per a previous report from BitcoinWisdom, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, announced partnership with Mastercard to launch prepaid cards for locals in Argentina to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat and would be used for daily purchases. In addition to being able to use a wide range of cryptocurrencies such as BNB and BTC, citizens can also make withdrawals in fiat wherever Mastercard is accepted. The cardholders in Argentina can receive up to 8% in crypto rewards from specific purchases.
It is also crucial to note that the second-largest payment-processing corporation worldwide introduced a new program that would enable banks to provide crypto trading services to their clients.
“There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions. It’s a little scary to some people still,” says Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief digital officer.
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.
