PURCHASE, N.Y.—Mastercard made waves when the payment services giant recently announced it plans to start allowing cryptocurrencies onto its network. But don’t expect Bitcoin to be part of that, MarketWatch said.
Ann Cairns, executive vice chair at Mastercard said Bitcoin wouldn’t really work for its plans.
“Bitcoin doesn’t behave like a payment instrument. It’s too volatile and it takes too long to transact,” said Cairns. “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 by the time it was served — and it takes 10 minutes to actually settle the transaction.”
Cairns said it is more useful to think of Bitcoin like gold, as an asset class, rather than a payment instrument, MarketWatch reported.
Mastercard said it wants to bring Stablecoins onto its networks, and is working with central banks on their plans for digital currencies, Cairns said.