Blockchain: Mastercard Reveals What Banks Really Require

What banks want. In a joint study, Mastercard and the Sei Development Foundation analyze how banks and asset managers select an infrastructure, test it, and then decide whether or not to deploy it in production. Their conclusion: speed has become sufficient on many networks, but trust in the finality of transactions, governance, and operations remains crucial.

Key Points {#h-key-points}

• Mastercard and Sei detail the evaluation process of banks: eligibility, pilot, production, scaling up
• Deterministic finality, predictability of fees, and compliance tools eliminate the majority of chains right from pre-selection
• The gap between pilot and production remains the main graveyard for banking proof of concepts
• Sei relies on its parallel execution and Giga project against Solana and Ethereum rollups

Blockchain has moved beyond the experimental stage and is transitioning into operational use {#h-blockchain-has-moved-beyond-the-experimental-stage-and-is-transitioning-into-operational-use}

The report, titled The Foundations of Institutional Blockchain, is based on more than 40 interviews with specialists in payments, compliance, and blockchain infrastructure. The authors also studied the evaluation grids already used by financial institutions.

According to their calculations, the cumulative capacity of major networks now exceeds 3,400 transactions per second, which is about one hundred times more than in 2019. This aggregated figure does not mean that a particular blockchain can guarantee this throughput under all conditions, but it illustrates the progress made in terms of performance.

More than $27 billion in bonds, funds, bank deposits, and other financial assets have also been tokenized. BlackRock's tokenized money market fund alone had surpassed $2.5 billion in assets under management by May.

The question is no longer just whether a blockchain can execute a transaction quickly. Institutions also want to determine whether its settlement is final, whether its governance can withstand a crisis, and whether its operation can be integrated into existing procedures.

<< Institutional adoption requires more than just innovation >>, summarizes Christian Rau, head of digital assets and blockchain for the APEMEA region at Mastercard. He specifically cites trust, scalability, compliance, and integration with existing financial infrastructures.

Five Steps Before Production for a Project {#h-five-steps-before-production-for-a-project}

Mastercard and Sei identify five successive steps in the adoption of a blockchain: eligibility, validation, pilot, production, and scaling up.

Each phase has its own decision-maker and requires a higher level of proof than the previous one. A technology can thus function during a limited test without meeting the legal, operational, or accounting requirements necessary for its use with real capital.

Institutions evaluate networks based on five main pillars covering performance, trust, compliance, integration, and operational maturity. Their importance varies depending on the use case.

For real-time payments, throughput and execution speed take priority. In cash management, institutions place more weight on governance, network stability, and the ability to respond in case of incidents.

The report examines six use cases and shows that no blockchain can be declared universally suitable for institutions. A high-performing network for frequent payments will not necessarily meet the needs of a bank wishing to tokenize assets or manage complex settlements.

Sei naturally emphasizes performance as a criterion that has become essential. This study, co-signed by the foundation responsible for developing the network, serves as both an analytical framework and a document supporting its positioning with institutions.

The main takeaway, however, is broader: moving from pilot to production depends less on a spectacular demonstration than on repeated evidence of security, compliance, governance, and integration. For banks, a fast blockchain is no longer enough; it must also be usable without jeopardizing the rest of the system.

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