Mastercard CBDC Partner Program also sees collaboration with Ripple (XRP)

Mastercard is launching its new CBDC Partner Program to bring together major industry players. Among the many is Ripple (XRP) and Consensys. 

Mastercard and the CBDC Partner Program together with Ripple (XRP) and others

The payments giant, Mastercard, has announced the launch of its new CBDC Partner Program, with the aim of bringing together key players in the Central Bank Digital Currency industry. 

Mastercard’s first set of partners sees the CBDC platform Ripple, Consensys, Fluency, Idemia, Consult Hyperion, Giesecke+Devrient, and Fireblocks.

Specifically, Mastercard has considered Ripple (XRP) for the launch of a first national stablecoin issued by the government in collaboration with the Republic of Palau, in addition to work on four pilot CBDCs.

In this regard, Raj Dhamodharan, head of digital assets and blockchain at Mastercard said:

“We believe in payment choice and that interoperability across the different ways of making payments is an essential component of a flourishing economy. As we look ahead toward a digitally driven future, it will be essential that the value held as a CBDC is as easy to use as other forms of money.”

Not only that, in its announcement, Mastercard wanted to specify that its program does not want to issue its own CBDC but wants to help central banks develop them “not for nothing,” but by adding something valuable to the economy. 

In fact, Dhamodharan added the following:

“By assembling the strengths, deep expertise and different capabilities of these partners, we can drive innovation in the central banking community and along the CBDC value chain as the space continues to evolve.”

Mastercard also recognizes Ripple (XRP) in the CBDC sector

With an eye toward Ripple (XRP), Mastercard has joined those countries recently testing its platform dedicated to the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies. 

This is a crypto solution offered by Ripple that is based on XRP Ledger or XRPL, and thus uses the blockchain offering distinct advantages. In addition to scalability, speed and security, XRPL can also meet the stringent requirements of a central bank’s currency. 

This very month, news leaked that Ripple is in talks with the Central Bank of New Zealand to develop its CBDC. While in April, also getting involved in Ripple’s plan was the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG). 

While Mastercard is moving forward only now, Ripple has already been an industry leader thanks to all the pilot projects using its CBDC Platform, launched last May with the very purpose of providing the end-to-end solution to banks and governments. 

The SEC may seek an appeal in the case against the crypto company

These very hours, people are talking about the new decision by US District Judge Analisa Torres that granted the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the ability to request an appeal in its lawsuit against Ripple. 

Basically, the ruling of 13 July issued by Torres, which provides that XRP is not a security and thus Ripple did not violate the securities laws by offering XRP, can now be challenged by the SEC. 

This has weighed down the bear market of the past 24 hours that the entire crypto market is experiencing, with XRP losing 14%, compared to Bitcoin’s 7% and Ethereum’s 6%. 

And indeed, at the time of writing XRP is worth $0.50, but BTC has also fallen to $26,450 and ETH to $1,690.