Mintable, STACS enter Mastercard startup program

Two Singapore-based startups in blockchain finance, Mintable and STACS, are among those joining a new Mastercard program to support new players in digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Mastercard has identified a number of startups around the world working to make it easier and safer for people and companies to transact and hold cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

“It’s a two-way street,” said Sandeep Malhotra, executive vice president for products and innovation, Asia Pacifiic, at Mastercard. The payments company is partnering with startups driving digital assets, while providing them with its expertise and global network. The company’s program is called Start Path.

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Mintable operates a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that is designed to be intuitive to non-crypto people. STACS is building blockchain infrastructure for asset managers, banks, and national stock exchanges wanting to participate in digital-asset finance.

Founders of the digital asset and blockchain companies participating in the new Start Path program aim to address a host of pain points including asset tokenization, data accuracy, digital security and seamless access between the traditional and digital economy. 

Other startups chosen for Start Path include GK8, an Israeli crypto custody platform; Domain Money, a US-based investment platform; Uphold, a investment and payments service to consumers and businesses, also based in the US; SupraOracles, a Swiss provider of interoperable solutions for smart contracts across blockchains; and fellow Swiss fintech, Taurus, which operates a front-to-back digital-assets infrastructure for enterprises.