Mastercard’s Latest Crypto Loyalty Scheme Aims to Plug Google Pay Gaps

• The Swoo wallet partnership is targeted at emerging regions like Africa and Southeast Asia, and specifically at parts unreached by Google Pay.
• A pilot in January saw 17,000 participants avail themselves of the 5% crypto cashback scheme.

CORRECTION (Feb. 21, 19:10 UTC): Corrects 5th paragraph to clarify that Mastercard won't be backing the crypto rewards for the Swoo loyalty program.

Payments giant Mastercard (MA) is working with Swoo Pay, an emerging markets-focused mobile payments app, to offer loyalty rewards in cryptocurrency and plug the gaps left by the likes of Google in the global payments landscape.

Earning cryptocurrency as a reward, like loyalty points, isn’t a new thing for big payment networks like Mastercard and Visa. A couple of years ago, Mastercard trumpeted a crypto loyalty program with NYSE-owned platform Bakkt. Visa had also partnered with now-defunct BlockFi to offer a credit card that lets users earn bitcoin (BTC) on purchases – ventures that have fallen by the wayside for one reason or another.

With the new partnership, Mastercard and Swoo will target emerging regions like Africa and Southeast Asia, specifically the parts untouched by Google Pay. “This also includes connecting users in countries with a high concentration of affordable Huawei smartphones,” said Swoo co-founder Filipp Shubin.

“In many emerging countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Philippines and Indonesia, there are billions of users who have MasterCard and Visa cards, but don’t have access to Google Pay,” Shubin said in an interview. “Another problem concerns countries with big market share of Huawei smartphones, since due sanctions from the U.S. government, there are no Google services on top of these phones.”

The rewards offered to users can be immediately converted to other cryptos like bitcoin or USDC, Shubin said. A pilot in January saw 17,000 participants avail themselves of the 5% crypto cashback scheme.

“Swoo Pay solves issues with tokenized payments for Android device users, making them more accessible, and our collaboration is designed to provide additional innovative incentives for Swoo users in making everyday purchases,” said Denis Filippov, a country manager for Mastercard, in a statement.