Payment Giants Visa and Mastercard Push Back Launch of Crypto Products due to Uncertain Market Conditions

cryptonews.com:

Visa and Mastercard, the two largest payment card network processors in the world, have decided to push back the launch of their crypto-related products and services due to uncertain market conditions. 

The payment giants also plan to slow down their crypto push and pause new partnerships with companies working in the digital asset space following the recent crypto meltdown that saw a number of high-profile industry players collapse, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

"Recent high-profile failures in the crypto sector are an important reminder that we have a long way to go before crypto becomes a part of mainstream payments and financial services," a spokesperson for Visa reportedly said. 

However, the spokesperson mentioned that the decision does not impact the company's strategy and focus on digital assets. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Mastercard said:

"Our efforts continue to focus on the underlying blockchain technology and how that can be applied to help address current pain points and build more efficient systems."

The change in policy comes as both payment giants have been aggressively pursuing opportunities in the crypto space over the past years. 

Both Visa and Mastercard had big plans for crypto, touting it as the next big thing in finance and payments. 

Just recently, Mastercard announced a partnership with Web3 payment protocol Immersve to allow users to make crypto payments on digital, physical, and the metaverse worlds. The company planned to use decentralized protocols to settle real-time cryptocurrency transactions on outlets accepting Mastercard payments.

Similarly, Visa announced earlier this month that it seeking to build “muscle memory” around settlements, with plans to allow