Mastercard NFT leader steps down and tokenizes resignation letter

Mastercard NFT product lead Satvik Sethi said in a series of tweets on Feb. 2 that he has resigned from that position, which he has held for the past year.

Sethi said he experienced harassment and distress due to the company’s management. He suggested that his salary was denied to him, his employment contract was overridden, and that he was blocked from online accounts.

Sethi said that he is minting and selling his resignation letter as an NFT priced at 0.023 ETH ($38.00) to support himself. He said that he will airdrop additional artwork to supporters in the future. Manifold, the app on which buyers can mint the token, reports that 38 tokens have been minted at the time of writing.

Sethi also emphasized the extent of his role at the company. He said that all questions about Web3 ⁠— including those from partners ⁠— were directed to him. He added:

“[Mastercard] might try to discredit me or downplay my contributions. But the fact is ⁠— globally our partners, clients, and regional teams associate Mastercard x NFTs with me.”

Mastercard has not commented on Sethi’s resignation. Presumably, it will continue to offer its various non-fungible token features despite Sethi’s key role.

In June 2022, Mastercard partnered with various NFT marketplaces, including ImmutableX, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, and Nifty Gateway. That partnership allowed cardholders to buy NFTs without purchasing cryptocurrency as an intermediate step. A similar partnership with Coinbase preceded that effort by several months.

Mastercard has also worked with Polygon to launch an artist accelerator that helps participants to mint NFTs. The company partnered with the crypto app Hi to offer customizable debit cards featuring NFT avatars last year.

Outside of NFTs, Mastercard is also working to offer crypto-related services, including trading services, monitoring tools, and reward options. It also powers payment cards offered by cryptocurrency firms, including Uphold, Wirex, Nexo, and Bitpay.