Mastercard EVP Jess Turner on becoming a 'crypto first' company

“It makes a lot of sense for us to be a crypto first firm.” That’s Jess Turner, Executive Vice President of New Digital Infrastructure and Fintech at Mastercard. On this episode of the Scoop, Turner joined host Frank Chaparro to discuss how Mastercard is continuing to lean into crypto. More than ever, Mastercard and other traditional financial institutions are finding themselves involved with crypto, Turner said. “Whether traditional banks issue crypto in the way it's defined today or not, they're heavily involved today because many of their cards are being used to buy this cryptocurrency.” Mastercard's business includes providing companies with credit card infrastructure. But crypto has quickly become a strategic focus for the payments network giant. Mastercard is also testing how it can add stablecoins to its payment rails as evident in the news that it would serve as a bridge between consumers spending with USDC and merchants. CBDC and Stablecoins Turner thinks that stablecoins will serve as one financial rail among others. Said Turner: “If you think about what you're getting back for, whatever payment mechanism or money movement mechanism you're using, you want to use the one that's giving you the best value for what you're trying to do. And that's why you need kind of this multi-rail choice... Do I believe stablecoin will be part of those choices and continue to grow? I do.” Mastercard is also exploring how it can work with governments and central banks on launching central bank digital currencies. NFTs Mastercard is currently working adding partnerships with NFT companies, including with marketplaces such as Mintable. The company is eyeing an opportunity in expanding consumer access to NFTs as they go mainstream. Turner went on to say that Mastercard is also exploring ways to work directly with the technology, focusing on how NFTs can better create provenance and validity as well as how they can be programmed for value exchange ... For more visit theblockcrypto.com/https://www.theblockcrypto.com/podcasts Episode 77 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Jess Turner, EVP New Digital Infrastructure and Fintech at Mastercard. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected]. This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Bakkt, Kraken and Masterworks Bakkt® unlocks the $1.2+ trillion of digital assets that is currently held in cryptocurrencies, rewards and loyalty points, gaming assets and merchant stored value. We began in 2018 with the vision to bring trust and transparency to digital assets. Through the Bakkt Warehouse and Bakkt Bitcoin Futures and Options contracts, we serve institutional clients in an end-to-end regulated market with true price transparency. For consumers, Bakkt aggregates digital assets to enable instant liquidity and to empower users to trade, transfer and pay however they want. Visit Bakkt.com for more information About Kraken Whether you’re an experienced crypto trader or just starting out, Kraken has the tools to help you achieve financial freedom. With 50+ cryptocurrencies to choose from, industry-leading security and a wide variety of features to suit any investing strategy, Kraken puts the power in your hands to buy, sell and trade digital assets. Visit Kraken.com to get started today. About Masterworks Masterworks is democratizing the exclusive multi-trillion-dollar art world. Instead of needing to write a $10 million dollar check to buy one Picasso painting, you can buy shares of masterpiece paintings. Masterworks has securitized over $250 million worth of art for their 235,000 members and was recently valued at over $1 billion, making them the first and only unicorn in the alternative investing space. Invest like a billionaire today with a few easy clicks at masterworks.io/scoop