Author: Helene Braun, CoinDesk; Compiler: Songxue, Jinse Finance

Payments giant Mastercard has created a forum where crypto industry players can discuss central bank digital currencies, injecting its influential voice into discussions about CBDCs as countries around the world consider whether to digitize their currencies.

CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies, but they belong to the same family. They could be based on blockchains, the distributed ledgers that underpin bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. A CBDC is simply a digital version of an existing fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar, endorsed by the issuing government.

Ripple, Fireblocks and Consensys are among the first participants in **Mastercard’s CBDC Partner Program, the company announced on Thursday. **

In a statement, Mastercard’s head of digital assets and blockchain, Raj Dhamodharan, said the initiative was designed to encourage dialogue among key industry players and “drive innovation and efficiency.” **

"We believe that payment options and interoperability between different payment methods are an essential part of a thriving economy," he said. “As we look to a digital-driven future, it is critical that the value held by a CBDC be as easy to use as other forms of money.”

Mastercard's track record of innovation in the digital asset ecosystem, especially in the CBDC space, goes back a long way. In early 2021, the payment network launched a prepaid card for people in the Bahamas who want to use the country's CBDC, the first attempt at a CBDC.

**Recently, the payments network said it was building a testbed to explore tokenized bank deposits in the UK, and would include CBDCs and regulated stablecoins in due course. **