Mastercard’s Latest Crypto Loyalty Scheme Aims to Plug Google Pay Gaps
Summary
Mastercard is partnering with Swoo Pay, a mobile payments app, to offer cryptocurrency-based loyalty rewards. This initiative aims to fill the gaps left by Google in the global payments landscape, particularly in emerging regions like Africa and Southeast Asia. The collaboration will also target users in countries with a high concentration of affordable Huawei smartphones, which lack Google services due to US sanctions. Mastercard will back the Swoo tokens, which can be converted into other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or USDC. A pilot in January saw 17,000 participants avail themselves of the 5% crypto cashback scheme.
