Making Crypto Spendable: Inside the Mastercard x Bitget Wallet Card

Transcript

Good morning everybody. My name is Jamie. I am the CMO at BitGet Wallet. And uh first of all, it's an absolute honor to be here with you today to make a huge announcement for as an organization, but actually also share the stage with a wonderful organization and Christian. So Christian, I'd love you to introduce yourself, introduce who you're working with today and maybe some of the vision around some of the aspects of the web 3 world that you're working within. Yeah, very happy. Uh hi, my name is Christian. I'm working for Mastercard as you can see here. Uh not the typical web 3 company. Uh but uh we have invested interest in the space as uh hopefully many of you know. Um so Mastercard has been around for 60 years and our mission is to facilitate safe, simple, secure payments around the world

and uh that has changed significantly over the last 60 years. Right? Some of you old enough might still remember these embossed cards. Then you had mechstripe, you had uh EMV chip cards. Nowadays you only use your iPhone and everything. Um because we see that technology is evolving and uh payment is an afterthought in consumer's minds, right? They want to buy things. They want to split a bill after a meal. They want to subscribe to Netflix. So and we all can see that our world is very much changing, right? It's getting more and more digital. And of course, if you want to stay relevant as a payment company, you really need to adopt the latest technology. And I think it's fair to say that we have that relevance. So, just to

give you an idea, we have 3.8 billion cards out there, 150 million acceptance locations, and we process like 9 trillion of payments. Um, and this works very, very well. But when you look at things like the Bitcoin white paper where the first word in the second line basically says payment and somebody says there should be a version of digital cash uh and you don't need all of this that Mastercard is doing today then obviously we we have a view because we believe that the underlying technology of blockchain distributed ledger web 3 whatever you want to call it holds a lot of potential to make payments even more efficient more convenient and make sure

that whatever Mastercard is doing in the future that we are at the right space um to basically provide our services and again it's not about the underlying technology. It's not about a plastic card that is moving more and more in the background. It's really that global network of interoperability of trust built on partnerships and technology and that's why we play in in web 3. And you will have heard about a lot of our cards. Uh for example, Crypto.com in in the EIA region as a principal member of Mastercard. We have a MetaMask card live. And today we're going to speak a bit about what we're doing with BitKit too. So that's essentially why Mastercard is engaging in this space.

We're uh very excited about all the innovation that is happening there and we follow this very closely. Thank you very much Christian. I think on behalf of Big Get Wallet, uh we're we're absolutely over the moon to be partnering up and delivering today's product out into the market. Uh excited to deliver that and probably explain in a little bit more detail exactly how that looks today. Uh in the last few months, we've overtook a huge rebrand and that rebrand was to signify one movement. That movement is crypto for everyone. We need to create better examples of real use cases in the real world. And frankly, wallets are not just wallets anymore. They need to do so much more. and we want to lead the charge.

Okay, let me just give you a quick review as to where we've been as as an organization at BitGet Wallet. Of course, we were founded in May 2018. You know, we looked very different, but we were the first actual multi-chain wallet out there within the ecosystem. Very proud moment for us, but you can actually see how far we've come. You know, we now associated over 130 different networks and chains into our application, allowing cross swap in literally a matter of clicks. you you know I'm not going to go through every single part of this but you can definitely see our growth in terms of the metrics you know surpassing 80 million users in such a short period of time the last 12 18 months we've seen over 300% increase in our user flow frankly by updating our systems updating our product and educating users as best

as we can basically in terms of product offering I do want to talk about some key parts of this component that that we actually do like to talk about uh with our communities you know we were the first to fully integrate you know telegram wallets Telegram bots into our ecosystem, meaning that you could come into our application. You could actually open a wallet using your Telegram handle. This was one of the first associations with Telegram. We saw a mass influx of users and it actually helped us an awful lot to understand users needs at a much better rate. So what is Bit Wallet? Why do we really want to push ourselves as the everyday wallet? Because wallets are no longer just wallets. It's not just a place that you want to go and trade anymore. Of course, your wallet needs to do more, whether that be earn or spend. For this

example, of course, it's spend. I'm going to quickly go to the next slide because I want to show you some key information here. Now, the top five countries have more than 60% of their population without bank accounts. Now, everybody presently in this room wouldn't argue, you know, the web 3 world is the component that can overcome that. Now, how can we overcome that? We can overcome that by providing real world services that matter for the people out there. The next chapter now, we need to make crypto spendable. You know, I could send anybody in this room $100 in USDT or USDC. How do you actually spend that? There's a huge disconnection traditionally. How do we overcome it? Partnerships like this.

It's the future. Making your USDC more powerful than ever and connecting it to the real world is the future. I just do want to talk about something here which is around what actually drives crypto payment adoption. And we did a study an onchain report and we listened to our users. Our users were were very clear. They want speed and efficiency. Now, traditional finance very often doesn't provide that. The web 3 world definitely every single day is almost like 3 weeks in the traditional settings. No offense to anybody from the traditional background. Uh global payments of course are a thing that can happen instantly within the web 3 world.

This is not the case when you're talking about traditional finance. We can actually settle those payments within a matter of seconds across 130 networks in the example of BitGet wallet. But why isn't crypto being spent just yet? And I think it's really important to understand, you know, some of the users feedback, whether it be security risks, common understanding or education around the product that we do offer, or of course, actually high transaction periods across certain networks and change at certain points within the, you know, process of what they're trying to complete. Now, understanding this behavior, adapting our product, adapting our marketing and is more important than ever, and I think we definitely have to understand that at a better level.

very proud of this video. This kind of gives you a highle view as to exactly what we're trying to do here at Bit Wallet and I'm pleased to share this with you. This is our current rebranded video. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause]

[Music] Yeah, we're very proud of this rebrand. We wanted to totally change the look, the feel, the way that we're seen and positioned within the market. We want to make crypto for everyone in any setting in the world. And again, this partnership allows that. Initially in few countries, EAA, we are excited to then roll this into further opportunities and further markets in the near future. Okay. The crypto for everyone movement is is a key component of what we're trying to achieve here and we want to make you understand exactly how our users, our partners can actually help us to make this impact because frankly this isn't just about Bit Wallet. This is about every builder in this room understanding the end goal and that's mass adoption. We want people to

go out there, use official hashtags of course, attend local events, meetups, but actually become champions for the movement. Anybody building within that is a champion. Now the everyday wallet is here and I just want to touch on a few key components within it. Uh we have native introdu integrations. We've seen this in Vietnam and the Philippines. You know, we're talking about the ability to go and use governmentissued incentives or plans or rollouts. You can literally go and buy a coffee in Vietnam, scan a QR code and pay directly from your BitGet wallet. You know, this is the future of modern finance. Salana Pay exactly the same principle and now we've got this fantastic partnership with Mastercard where users have got the card experience directly using USDC in Europe.

Okay, this is some of the examples of what I've just spoken about. Let's let's see how it actually works and the speed of it. We are scanning. [Music] Let's go.

[Music] Hey hey hey. [Music] Now works guys. You can buy me or like

anything in Vietnam with the national QR code and bit wallet. So happy spending. Now I I am very positive around what I'm showing you. And the reason I wanted to show you these raw examples actually in the community is the speed of what it is we're introducing here uh into the community. You can see the settlement speed of some of these payment processes uh is incredible actually. And this is probably something that many of us in this room 12 24 months ago probably thought was a long time in the future but was much needed. Uh just to summarize where we're at as bit wallet, we want to maximize spending facility and flexibility. You know, we do that via three ways. You can pay directly of course in the shop. You can scan to pay via QR code or of course now of course you can pay via tapping your card.

Hopefully that is our master card. Uh I'll let Christian do a little bit of a high level introduction of the card and then I'll wrap up with the marketing efforts around that. Uh but again I just want to reemphasize today's is a monumental day for us here at Bit Wallet launching this card in EAA. uh that's many countries just around Europe and a little bit further a field and again this is the start of something that we we believe is very big in the future. This is going to be rolled out in a lot more regions to come and we cannot wait to deliver this for many users internationally and hopefully try and surface the needs that are clearly apparent to our users. Thanks Jamie. Um so it's become apparent there's so many ways to pay these days right you can you you can scan QR codes

there are so many other ways and uh we have a strong conviction uh that actually the cart network that we use today works flawlessly and why why I really appreciate all the the checkout experiences you saw I believe that if if you compare that to a card in a let's say an Aldi legal setting where you have a very high frequency and very low relatively low transaction uh volumes. The throughput is essential. And what we can definitely offer is basically for all BitG uh users in the UK and EA to use a card as if it was just another Mastercard because essentially it's nothing else. Like if I'm standing in queue before you with a Deutsche Bank card or association or

whatever and you come with your BitKat card, you tap the cart, it's the very same experience. And I think this is uh groundbreaking in the sense that you have a experience that is very sort of web 3 native uh initially but you really transport this and you have global interoperability and so you can use the cart uh wherever and again this complements all the other services that bitk offer uh whether it's you know this native experience as I would call it in Vietnam where you can uh scan a QR code and the beauty here is that uh just until this point where you spend your money, it stays in your wallet. So, it doesn't leave uh the environment. It's it's what we would call a smart contract pulling essentially the money for the

transaction and then the merchant actually being paid in the normal masterard settlement cycle through the acquirer. So, you take advantage of the of the ecosystem that is very welldeveloped and matured. Uh and you can use your bit wallet card wherever you choose to. And again um it's I think and that's where I want to compliment you that you have all these different routes. So you don't want to be prescriptive about uh how consumers should spend their digital wealth whether that is USDC whether that is some digital other uh tokens or assets. uh but you hold them in your wallet and then you can choose however you want to spend them and and we believe we have a strong conviction that obviously our global network uh including the

interoperability including any dispute resolution is a uh very convenient very safe way because um and let me point that out if if you use your master card uh to to pay for something and something goes wrong right I'm not even speaking about criminal tent but things go wrong right you buy something online, it ships to wrong address, somebody steals it from your door or whatever. Um, if you use your Mastercard, you're there's such a concept uh as chargebacks or zero liability where essentially you say, okay, I paid for that, it never arrived.

I want my money back, right? And that is a concept that is not really known in web 3, right? It's all about these immutable transaction. I I wire you money on chain and basically there's no way of getting it back. However, if you use your Mastercard uh Bitcut card here, you essentially benefit from all the benefits that Mastercard can bring, including spending your digital assets. So, that's why I think it it's really a very welldesigned u sort of addition to your services suite and we're extremely proud to be the partner of choice for uh yeah, whatever's next to come for BitGet.

Promotional side. Yeah, I've got to get the promotional side in there, Christian, as to where we're at. Okay, so we are launched. The embargo has lifted during this session. So, it is publicly known out there. Again, just want to reemphasize the point. We're super proud of this partnership. It's the first of hopefully very many internationally. But some key points. It's self-custodial. It's USDC based with no top up fees. Uh, you know, this is removal barriers of entry for a lot of people into the space. Uh, really hoping we can get some direct user feedback from people that may be attending this conference. You know, just give it us tell us very straight exactly how you feel around that. But the key points around that, you know, the instant approval and our cash back incentive. At the moment, we have a 5% spend cash back in month one just to

help us get guaranteed feedback from our users. Please don't go and check out that campaign. Uh, but the the final point that I do want to bring to you is we have 80 million users in in the crypto space. That's a fantastic achievement. Uh, but that's a crypto sense. We talk about traditional finance. We talk about the the giants like Mastercard. They have connections to over 150 million different merchants, not users. Partnerships like this take this space to another level. It takes us into wider communities. It does everything that everybody in this room probably wants this space to achieve and we should celebrate everybody's success. So, thank you very much for your time.

Do you have any final comments Christian? I mean what I typically share at these conference because a lot of people are always saying okay it should all be you know blockchain first and everything but then you always get to the point of mass adoption mass adoption and I think uh partnerships like these for me are the ideal vehicle because I don't think the truth or at least my personal truth doesn't sit in you know this binary is all trai all web three I think the beauty and the true innovative capacity of both worlds really come to fruition if you combine things in a smart way and that's what we want to do and that's what we do do together now thank you

[Applause] if someone have some question you can ask it oh sorry thank you so uh first of all Thank you very much for your bright explanation. Uh you are super excited. We were super excited because the future is uh is there. Okay. A cashback instant approval not a fee is something that we have already been living with. So we we have already been living in the future since long ago because we already have those

features. And um two very quick question. Number one, um, uh, what are the transactions fees? And, uh, second quick question is, do we really, do we actually need a Mastercard or Visa to have our crypto world been accepted and used by end users? And, and also, should we really use cryptos for everyday payments? Because after all, I I I will say that we are trying to um to wear our crypto body with clothes that uh have already been there since long ago with

uh K uh YC behind the the scenes. So, should should we really use cryptos for everyday payments? So, I'm going to take those questions reverse order and then let Christian have a go. So for for for me I don't think I as a professional working and building within the space it's my right to tell users how they should use their assets. It's my right to provide a service for users to have the option to a wider adoption of the space whether that be for the web 3 space or traditional outlets. What however it is I think there's a slight arrogance traditionally from the web 3 space and traditional settings that they go in tandem and they don't work together.

Partnerships like this create that bridge and that bridge creates the ability for users to have options and choice. It's 2025. people deserve choice and actually we can best use technologies on on both sides to deliver ultimately a better product for the user. Uh 100%. Um we are also not prescriptive, right? Uh we offer cards and you can go to an ATM, you withdraw €200 and you spend it wherever you can use your card and you can use use your card. It's it's about optionality and choice. And if if you and I hear that a lot in in crypto, why would I spend my Bitcoin? It's the superior money. Fiat loses 3% every year in an ideal world.

In some some parts of the world, it uses so much more, right? Um, so it's about putting these things out there. And some people will say, okay, I really like the USDC uh thing. Some people say, I want to spend other assets. But but again, uh, quoting Jamie, it's having the option, and nobody will force you to use a service, but it's just for users to pick up or not. Yeah, being told we have to wrap up so we can pick up the questions. Uh, transaction fees, we can I'll share the full presentation with you on the side if that's okay. Yeah, we just wrap up. Yeah, thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you to everyone. Sorry. May if you want if you want to continue, you can continue outside with the question.