Decentralisation

TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

On this episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph, the team reflects on their week in Davos covering the World Economic Forum as crypto and TradFi continue to collide.

Traditional finance, or TradFi, continues to explore the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, with the World Economic Forum holding more workshops and sessions for the sector in 2023. These were major themes seen by the Cointelegraph team as they covered the action throughout a busy week in Davos, Switzerland. In a late-night recording session, the team recapped everything readers need to know about the week for the new Decentralize With Cointelegraph podcast.

Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr reflected on her access inside the WEF compared with previous years in Davos. She also unpacked the ongoing synergies between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or DeFi, that were evident from the myriad crypto industry events taking place. Cointelegraph journalist Gareth Jenkinson was tasked with covering these crypto meet-ups, which took place at a number of shops refurbished for events down the central promenade in Davos.

Speaking to a number of industry insiders and TradFi participants, Jenkinson highlighted the ongoing cross-pollination between the sectors, while just a handful of crypto participants were involved in conversations inside the World Economic Forum.

From JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s renewed skepticism toward Bitcoin (BTC) to the Cointelegraph team nearly getting stranded due to frozen diesel in their gas tank, Davos 2023 proved to be an entertaining and educational journey.

Davos has long been the spiritual home of the World Economic Forum, but recent years have seen a number of crypto and blockchain firms, projects and events rent space along the central road that runs to the WEF conference compound.

While crypto proponents mixed with TradFi members and curious visitors from both public and private institutions on the promenade, just a handful of crypto-related institutions took part in workshops inside the WEF.

*Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr (right) on stage with Rhett Power (left), Forbes columnist, hosting Webit Founders Games in Davos during WEF 2023. Source: Cointelegraph*

Cointelegraph spoke with representatives from Circle and Ripple, who gave an inside view into the WEF’s changing perception toward the sector, while the heads of metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Upland also touched on the different perceptions both inside the WEF and outside of its walls.

There seemed to be general consensus that the crypto and blockchain space was becoming increasingly talked about at the WEF, with the number of workshops and discussions on the sector increasing from May 2022.

*Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson (right) with Brooks Entwistle* *(left), APAC managing director at Ripple. Source: Cointelegraph*

Nevertheless, the co-mingling of TradFi and DeFi proponents was clear to see. Conventional investment funds, hedge fund managers and banks all drove discussions around cryptocurrency adoption and custody at the events Cointelegraph attended and moderated.

To hear Cornèr and Jenkinson reflect on changing perceptions and increased conversations between the old guard of traditional finance and the innovative cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem, listen to the first episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph on Cointelegraph’s newly launched podcasts page — and be sure to check out the additional lineup of new shows. The episode is also available on Spotify.

Mastercard partners with Polygon to launch Web3 musician accelerator program

The program will help five emerging artists set up and manage their brands in the Web3 space, and is also aimed at educating people in the music scene on what avenues Web3 tech can offer them.

Global payments giant Mastercard is ramping up its exposure blockchain tech yet again, after announcing a Polygon-based accelerator program to help musicians build their careers via Web3.

The firm announced the “Mastercard Artist Accelerator” program via a Jan. 7 blog post, outlining that from this spring, it will connect five emerging musicians from across the globe with mentors that will help them set up their brand in the Web3 music space.

“The artists will gain exclusive access to special events, music releases and more. A first-of-its-kind curriculum will teach the artists how to build (and own) their brand through Web3 experiences like minting NFTs, representing themselves in virtual worlds and establishing an engaged community,” the post reads.

The program will culminate with a live-streamed artist showcase later in the year.

We’re excited to grow our music footprint with the launch of the #Web3-based Mastercard Artist Accelerator, announced today at #CES! The new platform will help emerging artists pursue their passion and accelerate their music careers. https://t.co/ckwiqCV3Ob

— Mastercard News (@MastercardNews) January 6, 2023

Mastercard is also launching a non-fungible token (NFT) collection called the “Mastercard Music Pass” for those that aren’t selected for the program. The aim is to provide hodlers with educational materials and “unique resources” through brand collaborations to help budding musicians learn about the Web3 integrations with the music sector.

Commenting as part of the announcement, Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Watt noted that “Web3 has the potential to empower a new type of artist that can grow a fanbase, make a living, and introduce novel mediums for self-expression and connection on their own terms.”

Polygon looks primed to become a hub for music related Web3 projects. On Dec. 6, Cointelegraph reported that global entertainment giant Warner Music Group had partnered with Polygon Studios and e-commerce and interactive platform builder LGN.io, to build a Web3 music platform called LGND Music.

The platform is slated to launch later this month and will allow users stream music and collect and trade music NFTs.

Mastercard has been actively furthering its involvement in the blockchain and crypto sectors. In January 2022, Mastercard joined forces with Coinbase to enable the use of Mastercard cards for purchasing NFTs on Coinbase’s marketplace.

In mid-October 2022, Mastercard partnered with Paxos to allow banks to offer cryptocurrency trading and related services to their customers.

While in that same month, Cointelegraph also reported that Mastercard had launched a crypto fraud protection tool enabling banks to find and prevent fraud on crypto merchant platforms within its network.