New Zealand web3 tech innovator, Immersve has partnered with Mastercard to give consumers the ability to use
cryptocurrency directly from their web3 wallet to make digital, physical or even metaverse purchases, wherever
Mastercard is accepted.
In a world first, Immersve’s solution does not require a user’s digital assets to be held as collateral by a third
party, which means users will remain in complete control of their digital currency. Immersve uses decentralised
protocols, such as smart contracts, to bridge web3 and web2 applications. This means users will retain control over
their funds until they wish to purchase goods or services, as well as the convenience of being able to use their digital
cash at any merchant that accepts Mastercard online. Immersve will partner with a third-party settlement provider and
their customers will use USDC for all purchases. USDC will then be converted to fiat currency and settled on
Mastercard’s network. Immersve will partner with Mastercard to address KYC/AML, online fraud detection and blockchain
analytics, leveraging the Mastercard Identity Services and CipherTrace solutions. Users simply click on the Immersve
button from any popular web3 digital wallet to access the functionality and have the ability to spend by signing the
transaction with their private key to approve it.
“Collaborating with a well-known and trusted brand like Mastercard is a big step towards mainstream adoption of web3
wallets,” says Jerome Faury, CEO at Immersve. “We love the fact that our platform supports both centralised crypto
payments and decentralised experiences, to enable individuals to become the master of their money. Immersve is literally
building bridges that make it possible for individuals to transact directly from their crypto wallet, anywhere
Mastercard is accepted online. We want to bring the best of web3’s technology and values, to everyday payment
experiences. But we also want to provide traditional guardrails, like the Mastercard network’s consumer protections, to
crypto natives transacting online.”
Sandeep Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Products & Innovation in Asia Pacific, said: “In the past three years, the number of people using blockchain-based wallets doubled
to more than 80 million [1]. Looking ahead, digital wallets are likely to become as ubiquitous as email addresses. As
Web2 and Web3 increasingly converge, Mastercard remains committed to partnering with like-minded organizations like
Immersve to scale and secure the blockchain ecosystem to make simple, safe cryptocurrency transactions, and even
payments in the metaverse, easily accessible to billions of consumers.”