Mastercard Hires for Crypto Just as Citrini Warns It Could Be Obsolete

Mastercard is actively hiring a Director of Crypto Flows to manage stablecoin-linked card issuance and adapt network rules for Web3 transactions, signaling a major structural push beyond pilot programs. This hiring occurs shortly after Citrini Research published a report predicting that AI agents will route commerce around traditional fee-based intermediaries like payment networks by 2028, potentially bypassing Mastercard via zero-fee stablecoin settlements. While stablecoin volume already surpasses Mastercard's in raw value, the core threat is not replacing current card payments but enabling a new category of machine-to-machine commerce outside the card network's design. Despite Mastercard's CEO acknowledging agentic commerce, the company's slower adoption compared to Visa in crypto-native rails suggests a gap, leading to speculation whether this new hire is an attempt to build necessary infrastructure or merely react to an inevitable bypass.

(Source：BeInCrypto)