Mastercard announced a decrease in profits in the last quarter due to a decrease in the number of customers buying cryptocurrency using credit cards of the company, CNBC reported.
Users can use Mastercard to purchase digital currencies, but this operation was banned by some financial institutions. Earlier this year, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup banned such purchases, citing potential credit risks and the volatility of the crypto currency.
Cross-border volumes of Mastercard reportedly grew by 19%, although this figure fell by 2% in the fourth quarter, in part because of the smaller number of purchases by cardholders.
Chief Financial Officer of Mastercard Martina Hund-Megin said that one of the reasons was "the recent drop of cryptocurrencies rate", although, she said, the company expected that international growth would be moderate.
"There are a lot of problems, even in Japan, because one of their largest exchanges was hacked. As you can see, now the interest is slightly less than in the second half of the fourth quarter and in the first quarter. "
She also said that the digital currency is not an important part of their corporate strategy, because it is difficult to predict how the sector will develop:
"It's not what we're betting on, because we just do not know how to predict or even do not want to count."
Recall, in April against JPMorgan Chase & Co. was sued for charging "sky-high" interest rates and fees from customers who used their credit cards to purchase crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin.
According to the latest news, Mastercard is going to patent a way to quickly add new nodes to the network, as shown by the company's new application to the patent office. Also in mid-April, the payment giant announced the hiring of 175 new technology developers, including blockchain specialists.