According to foreign media reports, Mastercard will collaborate with payment provider Swoo Pay to launch a loyalty program targeting emerging markets. The program will reward users with cryptocurrency to fill the market gap that Google Pay has not reached.
Mastercard is partnering with Swoo Pay to focus on emerging markets such as Africa and Southeast Asia, where there is a high density of mobile phone users and an increasing demand for mobile payments. In countries like Nigeria, Kenya, the Philippines, and Indonesia, there are already billions of users with Mastercard and Visa cards, making it a favorable environment for promoting mobile payments.
Although the mobile phone ownership rate is increasing in these emerging countries, most people use lower-priced Chinese smartphone brands. Due to the US sanctions on Huawei phones, many people in these countries are unable to use Android and Google Pay, resulting in low coverage for Google Pay and creating a significant market gap.
This collaboration between Mastercard and Swoo Pay aims to address this market gap. Swoo Pay has already established a presence in emerging markets and can provide services on the sanctioned phones mentioned above.
Furthermore, the local financial systems in these emerging countries are relatively underdeveloped. Using cryptocurrency as a reward for loyalty programs helps encourage the adoption of alternative payment methods among the local population. In a pilot program conducted in January, 17,000 participants enjoyed a 5% cryptocurrency reward, which could be immediately converted into cryptocurrencies like USDC.
This partnership with Swoo Pay allows Mastercard to expand its influence in emerging markets and serves as another attempt to enter the cryptocurrency business, benefiting from effective market segmentation.
However, using cryptocurrency as a reward for loyalty programs is not a new concept for card issuers. Mastercard has previously collaborated with Bakkt, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange, to launch a cryptocurrency loyalty program. Visa has also recently introduced Web3 brand marketing tools, and the integration of payment scenarios with cryptocurrency applications is gradually maturing, with expectations for more diverse applications in the future.
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