Mastercard made waves when the payment services giant announced earlier this month that its plan to start allowing cryptocurrencies to enter its network.
But don’t expect BTCUSD bitcoin,
be part of that.
Ann Cairns, executive vice chair at Mastercard MA,
they told the Future of Money conference that bitcoin would not really work for its plans.
“Bitcoin does not behave as a payment instrument,” she said. “It’s too volatile and will take too long to move.”
“So if you and I went for a cup of coffee, and you know, I decided to pay with bitcoin, our coffee might cost me, I don’t know, 40% more before serving – and it will take 10 minutes to resolve the matter, ”she said.
That may be a pre-developed version of bitcoin’s true volatility, but bitcoin is in the future BTC.1,
has seen five daily movements of at least 10% this year.
Cairns said it is more useful to think of bitcoin as GC00 gold,
as an asset class, rather than a payment instrument.
Mastercard wants to bring so-called stables to its networks, and it is working with central banks on their plans for digital currencies, she said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is looking at digital money but stressed that it did not need to be done quickly.