Mastercard partners with crypto gateway to drive financial inclusion in Indonesia

Financial services firm Mastercard has partnered with crypto gateway provider Fasset to co-develop digital solutions that may drive adoption in Indonesia. The collaboration aims to expand financial inclusion in the country and extend opportunities to its local economy. 

In an announcement, Navin Jain, the country manager for Mastercard Indonesia, said that will support Fasset’s efforts to advance financial inclusion within the country. According to Jain, the partnership will help locals to have more access to digital technologies.

Hendra Suryakusuma, an executive at Fasset, told Cointelegraph that there is an unbanked population of 92 million in Indonesia. According to Suryakusuma, this gap will be bridged by Fasset and Mastercard to bring better access to digital financial services. Suryakusuma explained that:

“Our partnership seeks to lower the barriers to digital finance and drive greater opportunities to benefit from the use of emerging financial services.”

Apart from this, the executive also believes that crypto adoption in countries like Indonesia will also have a significant impact on the broader crypto ecosystem. He highlighted that it will serve as a reference for other countries to pursue progress and change the pace of economic growth. “The implications on the industry are greater legitimization of crypto assets, their use cases and areas of applications,” he further explained.

Related: Indonesia-licensed crypto asset platform Pintu raises $113M in Series B

In June, Mastercard expanded its network for nonfungible token (NFT) markets. The payment processing firm partnered with NFT marketplaces to allow its cardholders to purchase NFTs directly with their cards, eliminating the need to buy crypto before making NFT purchases.

Back in May, Michael Miebach, the CEO of Mastercard, made a bold prediction that the cross-border transaction platform SWIFT may cease to exist in five years during a panel on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). However, after the panel, a spokesperson from Mastercard clarified that it's not a yes or no question but rather a reinforcement of SWIFT’s previous statements that its operations will eventually evolve.