The collaboration involves the integration of Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network (MTN) with Kinexys Digital Payments, a platform of J.P. Morgan, to simplify cross-border transactions between businesses.
Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network is a blockchain-based platform designed to create, issue and redeem digital assets.
It provides a set of tools and standards accessible via API. The integration of MTN with Kinexys enables instant transfers using commercial bank funds, increasing transparency, speeding up settlements and solving time zone issues in cross-border payments.
As a result, customers of both platforms are able to conduct corporate transactions through a single API, significantly simplifying the process and increasing its efficiency.
The MTN platform was launched by Mastercard in June 2023, based on its own blockchain infrastructure.
In the summer of 2023, the company tested the use of wrapped central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Although CBDCs have not yet been put into operation, the trials confirmed the potential of tokenized financial instruments.
In May 2024, Mastercard successfully piloted a carbon credit tokenization project with Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCBHK) in the HKMA Fintech Sandbox.
A Mox Bank customer, a participant in the project, made a deposit to purchase a carbon credit. SCBHK tokenized the loan using the Libeara platform, enabling an atomic swap — an instant transaction between blockchains.
That same month, Mastercard expanded its blockchain activities by partnering with major financial players such as Swift, Citigroup, Visa, and J.P. Morgan Stanley. Morgan, to explore distributed ledger technology (DLT) to tokenize banking transactions.
The Mastercard and J.P. Morgan initiative represents a major step toward simplifying cross-border payments that could significantly change the way financial transactions are handled globally.