Mastercard Introduces a New Wave of Blockchain Startup Programs.

Mastercard's Start Path Blockchain and Digital Assets program welcomed five new startups, signaling its intent to explore a range of payment technologies, from blockchain to Web3. This fintech accelerator program, announced by Mastercard on May 15, focuses on scaling new solutions with startups globally.

The latest additions to the program include Kulipa, a crypto payment and card issuer; Parafin, a blockchain software firm; Peaq, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePin) firm; Triangle, a data platform; and Venly, a blockchain developer.

Mastercard emphasized that this phase of the program aims to address specific challenges through use cases and trials. The program exclusively selects "high-potential blockchain, digital assets, and Web3 startups" for collaboration, offering bespoke training and access to Mastercard's customers and channels over a four-month period.

Since its inception in 2014, Start Path has supported over 400 startups across 54 countries, propelling Mastercard to the forefront of fintech and blockchain payments. Notably, Mastercard Lab recently partnered with Israeli fintech firm Kima to explore the concept of a "DeFi credit card," blending decentralized finance protocols with traditional credit applications.

Additionally, Mastercard forged an alliance with major U.S. banking institutions, including Citigroup, Visa, and JP Morgan, to experiment with distributed ledger technology for banking settlements using tokenization. In a separate development, Mastercard collaborated with 1inch to introduce a debit card featuring cryptocurrency-to-fiat bridge functionality in April, enabling cryptocurrency users to conduct cash withdrawals and point-of-sale transactions at locations accepting debit cards.