Mastercard, Visa said to halt new crypto pacts as industry downturn lingers

In recent months, the cryptocurrency industry has been stung by a series of high-profile failures, forcing credit card behemoths Mastercard ( NYSE: MA ) and Visa ( NYSE: V ) to pause creating new relationships with firms in the troubled space, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge on the matter. Within the broader payments space, both companies have been instrumental in bringing crypto-focused products and services to market with the goal of attracting more customers. But the collapse of crypto exchange FTX ( FTT-USD ) late last year and subsequent meltdowns have roiled investor sentiment and boosted regulatory scrutiny. Now Visa ( V ) and Mastercard ( MA ) each are delaying the rollout of certain crypto-related products and services, the people told Reuters , until market conditions and the regulatory backdrop improve. "Our efforts continue to be focused on the underlying blockchain technology and how that can be applied to help address current pain points and build more efficient systems for consumers and businesses," a spokesperson for Mastercard told Seeking Alpha in an emailed statement. Visa did not immediately respond to Seeking Alpha's request for comment. Prior to the downfall of FTX ( FTT-USD ), Mastercard ( MA ) pursued a slew of crypto-focused initiatives in a bid to build its presence in the space. In October 2022, for instance, the company teamed up with crypto platform Paxos to introduce a new program that will help lenders offer crypto trading to their clients. A few months before that it teamed up with Ebang International's ( EBON ) Australian crypto exchange Ebonex to launch a crypto-linked card . Visa ( V ), too, had ratcheted up its efforts to take crypto market share. It even partnered with FTX ( FTT-USD ) to offer crypto debit cards globally just a month before Sam Bankman-Fried's multibillion-dollar empire failed .