Mastercard Successfully Tests New CBDC Project

Mastercardhas tested a new project using special digital money, called CBDCs, on different online systems, like how wBTC and wETH are used in the digital currency world. This test was done with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and some other financial groups in Australia, including Cuscal and Mintable, on October 12.

In a real-life situation, Mastercard said its new method allowed a person, who owns this kind of digital money, to buy a special kind of digital collectible (an NFT) using the Ethereum system. They explained: "The needed amount of the pilot CBDC was 'locked' on the RBA’s platform and an equal amount of 'wrapped' pilot CBDC tokens were created on Ethereum."

This experiment needed certain conditions: the Ethereum wallets of the buyer, the seller, and the smart contract for the NFT marketplace needed to be 'allowed' in the system. With all other transfers of the 'wrapped' CBDC stopped, the platform showed it can manage controls on public online systems.

Mastercard’s Multi Token Network, which started in June 2023, combined payment technology with online systems. Zack Burcks, the CEO of Mintable, said: “Together with Mastercard, we found a way to easily connect digital currencies and NFTs, which could stop fraud, prevent loss of documents, and open new possibilities for buying and selling things.”

The RBA has said before that an Australian dollar CBDC could create new payment options and bring innovations to the finance sector that normal money can't. But, the central bank believes "more research" is needed to understand the benefits properly.