Grace Berkery, the director of startup engagement at leading global payment solutions company Mastercard, believes that the fall of crypto exchange FTX has provided the crypto industry with an opportunity to reset.

FTX’s Collapse Is an Opportunity to Reset: Berkery

According to a Techcrunch report, Berkery made the statement during the “Status of Venture Funding in Crypto and Web3” panel held at Benzinga’s recent Future of Crypto event.

The Mastercard executive opined that FTX’s collapse and the aftermath is an opportunity for the crypto industry to readjust.

“I think it’s an opportunity and time to reset. At Mastercard, we believe there’s a lot of promise in the underlying technology. There’s a lot happening in the space,” she said.

Berkery further voiced her belief in the availability of partnership opportunities between crypto firms and traditional institutions. She believes institutions would not avoid the crypto industry due to its current condition but instead become more careful about which companies they work with, intentionally seeking those with proven track records and existing customers.

“I feel like once you get the momentum for an institution up and running, it’s hard to get them to turn their head and pivot … The focus is going to be less on buzzwords and hype in the space and more on what is the tangible value you’re adding as a company,” she added.

Nothing Is off the Table: Berkery

Furthermore, the Mastercard director believes that within the next 12 months, trending topics amongst traditional financial entities would be related to services that would help stabilise the market. Some such services include cybersecurity, identity management, fraud analytics, and several others.

Despite the turmoil in the industry, Berkery thinks that opportunities abound in the Web3 space, especially with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse-related use cases. She explained that both areas are still available for investors and institutional involvement.

“Nothing is off the table. It really comes down to how you’re going to bring value to these traditional companies and institutions,” she added.

Meanwhile, Mastercard has been at the forefront of crypto adoption. The company is keen to ease consumer access to cryptocurrencies as it continues to partner with several crypto exchanges, including Binance and Nexo, to launch crypto cards.

~ By William A. Frederick ~