According to Golden Finance, payment giant Mastercard is working with Swoo Pay, a mobile payment application focused on emerging markets, to launch a new cryptocurrency loyalty rewards program to fill the gap left by companies such as Google in the global payment field. Through the new partnership, Mastercard and Swoo will target emerging regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia, especially those not reached by Google Pay.
“This also includes connecting users in countries with a high concentration of affordable Huawei smartphones,” said Swoo co-founder Filipp Shubin.
Shubin said Mastercard will be the ultimate backer of Swoo tokens, which are rewards given to users and can be instantly converted into other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or USDC. A few years ago, Mastercard advertised a cryptocurrency loyalty program through Bakkt, a platform owned by the New York Stock Exchange. Visa also launched a credit card in partnership with the now-defunct BlockFi that lets users earn Bitcoin for shopping.