Mastercard has introduced a proprietary virtual testing environment for central banks to evaluate Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, use cases. The platform enables the simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and consumers. Central banks, commercial banks and tech and advisory firms have been invited for partnership to assess CBDC tech designs, validate use cases and evaluate interoperability with existing payment rails available for consumers and businesses. Raj Damodaran, Executive Vice President, Digital Asset and Blockchain Products and Partnerships at Mastercard, said central banks have accelerated their exploration of digital currencies with a variety of objectives, from fostering financial inclusion to modernizing the payments ecosystem, and Mastercard is driving innovation with the public sector, banks, fintechs, and advisory firms in the exploration of CBDCs. Mastercard said the virtual platform can be individually customized to the environment in which the central bank operates, allowing it to simulate a CBDC issuance, distribution and exchange ecosystem with banks and consumers, including how a CBDC can interface with existing payment networks and infrastructures and demonstrate how a CBDC can be used by a consumer to pay for goods and services anywhere Mastercard is accepted around the world.
