The decentralized Kima settlement protocol is integrated into the MasterCard sandbox program, which enables stablecoin-powered top-ups for prepaid cards directly from self-custody wallets.
According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the MasterCard Partners can now rely on Kima’s infrastructure infrastructure to allow their prepaid cardsUSDC) and USDT by Tether (USDT), from purses to self-cust more than 10 blockchains.
Kima CEO Eitan Katz said the integration shows that Stablecoins can be practical for daily use and eliminate friction and mediators from crypto-to-fiat changes while expanding crypto availability.
“Our purpose in Kima is to eliminate obstacles between digital assets and traditional finances,” Katz said.
Related: MasterCard Tokenized 30% of its transactions in 2024
The infrastructure designed for interoperability
Katz described Kima’s settlement system as asset-magnostic and designed to simplify cross-ecosystem payments, supporting public blockchain, private ledger and traditional banking metals:
“The Kima settlement settlement layer is designed to abstract the complexity of transferring value to different ecosystems, whether public blockchains, private ledgers, or even traditional banking systems.”
According to the announcement, Kima’s infrastructure aligned with Mastercard’s goal of bringing stablecoins to the main finances use. Katz rejected the bitcoin and crypto hardliner vision of digital assets that were concluded with Fiat Currency, claiming that “crypto and fiat should be coexistent to reach their full potential.”
Katz explained that Kima’s solution provides for the easy interoperability of crosschain and removes reliance on mediators, custodians or complex smart contracts. This, in turn, has been reported to improve security and efficiency for all parties involved.
Related: MasterCard links with circle, paxos for merchant stablecoin payments
ECB includes Kima in the digital euro initiative
Earlier in May, the European Central Bank (ECB) included Kima on a list of 70 private sector partners has assigned helping digital innovation. The companies on the list have signed up to work with the ECB to explore the digital euro payments and use cases.
“The width and creativity of the proposals feature the potential of the digital euro as a catalyst for European financial modern finances,” ECB executive board member Piero Cipollone said at that time.
Despite Kima’s institutional partnerships, Katz told cointelegraph that “compliance does not mean surrendering control over your funds or your data.” He said the know-you-cien and anti-money laundering checks were handled by third-party banks and virtual service providers onboarding, and Kima had never accessed the data.
Katz added that “when a user is cleared, each transaction brings unchanged metadata tags that our protocol levels against local policies.” This, he said, covers compliance “from the European Union markets in the crypto-assets regulation in the Singapore regulation-before the settlement.”
Katz said “the keys are kept completely under the control of users,” while cryptographic proofs still allow for compliance.
“Institutions get a plug-and-play control layer and users enjoy real self-custody,” Katz added.
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