Mastercard’s NFT product lead resigns, mints resignation letter as NFT
Former (non-fungible token) NFT product lead at Mastercard, Satvik Sethi, resigned from his role on Thursday, choosing to mint his resignation letter as an NFT. Sethi, who worked at Mastercard for the past two years, tweeted that he left the global payments company due to “harassment and emotional distress.”
NFT resignation letter
The former NFT product lead minted his resignation letter as an NFT on Manifold at 0.023 ETH ($39):
“If you want to support me, you can mint my resignation for 0.023 ETH. A piece of my personal history from the year I leaped. Art airdrop for holders in the future as thanks.”
The letter is minted as an open-edition NFT with 100% of the proceeds going to survival, a project Sethi titled “New Beginnings.”
In his letter to Mastercard leadership, Sethi wrote that he plans to continue working on Web3 to change the world for the better through his ventures, art, and knowledge in the industry. Sethi will now devote his attention to his site joincircle, a Web3 social networking and community-building platform.
According to Sethi, the platform has over 90,000 sign-ups, 35+ partner communities, and over 300,000 potential users waiting for the final product. “Doing justice by all of you is my goal. We have an NFT collection, platform, and other things in the works. Stay tuned, soon!” said Sethi.
Moreover, Sethi plans to release different forms of his own art in the future.
Poor working conditions
In his Twitter thread, Sethi cited the challenges he faced while working at Mastercard, including delayed salary and miscommunication.
He stated that despite having a lot to be grateful for, his mental health was struggling and he suffered panic attacks and depression.
Sethi stated that after his resignation, the company offered him one month’s pay with no benefits.
“When I tried to fight back and informed them that I had records of my conversations, they locked and disabled all my accounts, and with that preventing me from accessing ideas I spent months designing and not even giving me a chance to say goodbye to my team, clients and peers.” wrote Sethi.
Mastercard has not released any official communication regarding the matter. However, a spokesperson of the company stated that they are aware of Sethi’s concerns:
“We take them seriously and they will be looked into. We will do so with the continued respect for his privacy and will not have further comment at this time.”
Mastercard has several crypto-related initiatives
Mastercard embraced cryptocurrency payments and NFT transactions in June 2022. Card Holders could purchase NFTs on various marketplaces without having to first buy crypto. The company partnered with Candy Digital, ImmuatableX, The Sandbox, Nifty Gateway, Spring, and later Coinbase.
On January 30, Mastercard partnered with Binance to launch a prepaid crypto card in Brazil. The card will allow holders to make payments and pay bills with 13 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, and Binance USD.
Additionally, Mastercard recently began a new ‘artist accelerator’ focused exclusively on promoting the web3 music industry
