Assets must follow local laws and regulations.Strict compliance protocols, including Know Your Customer.Consumer protection, including privacy and security of consumers’ information.Mastercard said it needs four things in order to start supporting a new asset on its network:
It’s those very same stablecoins that we expect to bring into our network," the VP said. "We expect consumers and the ecosystem as a whole will start to rally around the crypto assets that offer reliability and security. "Our philosophy on cryptocurrencies is straightforward: It’s about choice," Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President (VP) at Mastercard, said in a blog post yesterday, adding "It should be your choice, it’s your money."īut it looks like, for now, "your choice" is going to be limited to stablecoins only. In March 2021, the ACCC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Visa in relation to concerns that the card scheme may also have limited competition in relation to debit card acceptance through its dealings with large merchants.Following in its biggest competitor, Visa's, footsteps, payments giant Mastercard said it "will start supporting select cryptocurrencies directly on our network." However, at least in the initial stage, it's about stablecoins, which are not cryptocurrencies. “We are concerned that Mastercard’s alleged conduct meant that businesses did not receive the full benefit of the increased competition that was intended to flow from the least cost routing initiative.” “We allege that Mastercard had substantial power in the market for the supply of credit card acceptance services, and that a substantial purpose of Mastercard’s conduct was to hinder the competitive process by deterring businesses from using eftpos for processing debit transactions,” says ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb. The agreements meant that these businesses would not process significant debit card volumes through the eftpos network even though eftpos was often the lowest cost provider.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges that Mastercard attempted to circumvent the decree by offering cheaper interchange fee rates to more than 20 major retail businesses, including supermarkets, fast food chains and clothing retailers.
This aimed to increase competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services and reduce payment costs for businesses by allowing them to choose the lowest cost network to process their transactions. Mastercard’s alleged anti-competitive conduct commenced in late 2017 in response to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s least cost routing initiative.
0 kommentar(er)
