According to the announcement made by Mastercard on December 9, 2021, the company is planning to team up with 5 start-ups for the ‘Start Path Crypto’ program. With these partnerships, the company will aim to solve global challenges related to the blockchain system. The ‘Start Path Crypto’ program was started by Mastercard way back in 2014. Through this program, the payment giant aimed to help the later-age start-ups in scaling their businesses. The competitor of Mastercard, Visa, has also launched a similar program in 2019 which has been named “Fast Track”.
The 5 start-up companies consist of –
· Ava Labs, a smart-contract builder
· Envel, an artificial intelligence-focused mobile banking application
· Kash, a peer-to-peer saving platform
· LVL, a bitcoin banking app
· NiftyKey, a crypto rewards platform
The smart-contract builder company, Ava Labs, is most well-known for developing the Avalanche blockchain. This blockchain is primarily involved in the facilitation of decentralized applications (dapps) and custom blockchain creation on its ecosystem. The blockchain is widely known to be an Etherium competitor.
New Digital Infrastructure and Fintech’s Executive VP, Jess Turner, gave an interview regarding the Start Path Crypto program recently. He said that with this initiative, the company plans to provide value-added services, while at the same time enhancing the financial freedom of the customers. He added that with the expertise of Mastercard and the experience of the digital assets companies, they will be able to develop new payment processes. The president of Ava Labs, John Wu, also made a statement saying that with the Start Path Crypto program, Mastercard is setting an example across all industries about how embracing innovation can be useful.
