International payments behemothic Mastercard continues focusing on the digital asset industry by welcoming a batch of major cryptocurrency startups in its fintech accelerator.

The company announced Tuesday a new startup engagement program as function of Mastercard Start Path, an accelerator program for fintech startups, aiming to support companies working with digital assets, cryptocurrency and blockchain applied science.

The program has added 7 new startups, including digital wallet and trading platform Uphold, crypto storage firm GK8, American investment platform Domain Coin, blockchain oracle startup SupraOracles, blockchain infrastructure provider STACS, digital asset firm Taurus, and Mintable, a marketplace for issuing and trading nonfungible tokens (NFT).

The new additions come in line with Mastercard'south commitment to expand and advance innovation in digital asset technology and enable more security for cryptocurrency investors, the visitor noted.

Every bit office of the programme, each crypto startup volition exist solving a unique challenge with the back up of Mastercard's expertise to grow farther and develop their solutions. The newly joined startups will employ the programme to connect Mastercard'southward ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners and digital players worldwide to provide new solutions, the house said.

Jess Turner, executive vice president of Mastercard's dew digital infrastructure and fintech, stressed that the company has been engaged with the digital currency ecosystem since 2022. "We believe we can play a key office in digital assets, helping to shape the industry and provide consumer protection and security. Part of our part is to forge the future of cryptocurrency, and we're doing that by bridging mainstream financial principles with digital assets innovations," she stated.

Launched in 2022, Mastercard Start Path is a six-month accelerator program that aids startups in scaling up and commercializing their products and services. According to the annunciation, more 250 startups have participated in the program since its launch. Before this year, Mastercard Outset Path added six other fintech and digital asset-related startups, including Moeda Seeds.

Related: Mastercard's latest partnership to help banks distribute crypto cards

The news comes soon afterward Mastercard disclosed plans to renovate its crypto bill of fare programme to enable traditional banks to offering crypto-enabled cards within Mastercard'south existing payment network.

In further increasing its button into the digital nugget industry, MasterCard echoes the steps of its principal competitor company, Visa. In its latest crypto update in early July, Visa said that it would proceed to back up the development of the cryptocurrency manufacture as office of its concern, reporting that its crypto-enabled cards processed over $ane billion in full spending in the first half of 2022.