Mastercard selects Fluency as its new CBDC partner

By Gloria Methri

Mastercard, a specialist in payment solutions, has announced Fluency as its CBDC partner, with an aim to capitalise on the growing interest in central bank digital currencies.

Fluency’s expertise and innovative technological capabilities will provide a greater understanding of the benefits of CBDCs, and how to implement them in order to drive innovation for Mastercard and its clients as CBDCs continue to evolve.

Inga Mullins, CEO at Fluency, said, “We are delighted at Fluency to be part of this exciting and forward-thinking partnership with Mastercard helping CBDC networks seamlessly bridge transactions between different types of CBDC: account and token-based, retail and wholesale, multi-CBDC with tokenized assets and regulated stablecoins.”

Other key players selected for the global CBDC program include platform Ripple, blockchain and Web3 software company ConsenSys, digital identity technology provider Idemia, digital identity consultant Consult Hyperion, security technology group Giesecke+Devrient and digital asset operations platform Fireblocks.

Raj Dhamodharan, Head, Digital Assets and Blockchain, at Mastercard, said, “We believe in payment choice and that interoperability across the different ways of making payments is an essential component of a flourishing economy. As we look ahead toward a digitally driven future, it will be essential that the value held as a CBDC is as easy to use as other forms of money.”

Fluency is an appointed member of the world’s key CBDC boards working directly with the major central banks and governments on their CBDC design features, implementation strategy, and policy for 23 countries globally including the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.