MIAMI – Mastercard introduced The Belle Block™ in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), during the 11th edition of the Mastercard LAC Innovation Forum. The Belle Block™ is a community launched in June 2022 to educate and empower women and non-binary individuals to benefit from Web3 technology and crypto. This expansion to the region comes in partnership with WAGMI LatAm, an education initiative aimed at bringing 5 million Latin women into Web3 by 2030.

Mastercard believes in the power of technology and its ability to build a better future that includes everyone. This new group focuses on delivering on key building blocks: Business Growth, Education, Leadership, Legal & Regulatory Advocacy and Entrepreneurship.

Today’s crypto climate requires looking ahead, informing, and giving more people the choice to explore and engage in the crypto ecosystem to better understand the power of blockchain. Although women and men are using crypto for similar reasons – investing, buying, trading, and opening wallets – 77% of Latin American women who are familiar with crypto agree they would use it more if they understood it better.*

“Digital assets have the power to transform the way we pay, get paid, and invest. Together with the crypto community, we want to ensure we are bringing more women and underserved to the table in the Web3 and crypto world so they can have an active role in leading the future of payments”, says Janet Rivera-Hernandez, Vice President, Communications, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Belle Block™ partners with the founders of groups fostering education and collaboration, including SheFi, HerHouse, Blu3 DAO, and Boys Club, to get more women involved and to develop products that empower women and other minorities. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the initiative is supported by WAGMI LatAm, a program that aims to increase the participation of Latin women in the United States and Latin America in the Web3 world.

“WAGMI LatAm brings together more than 30 organizations in the U.S. and Latin America to ensure Latin American women are co-creators and active participants in the evolution of the Web3 ecosystem by providing access to education, resources and conducting research,” said Laura Navarro Muñoz, Governor of H.E.R. DAO LATAM and one of the three founding member organizations of WAGMI LATAM. “Based on our experience, community-building and education will be key to achieve WAGMI LATAM’s goal of onboarding 5 million women into Web3 by 2030 and we are looking forward to working with Mastercard to achieve this goal.”

Last June, Mastercard launched its 2022 New Payments Index, a global survey among 35,000+ consumers in 40 countries, which found those already familiar with the crypto space, women especially, have a heightened interest in expanding their knowledge. 95% of Latin American women have heard of cryptocurrency, but their current understanding of crypto and digital asset terminology is less robust than men, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – 42% of women are aware vs. 56% of men, blockchain – 28% of women are aware vs. 44% of men, and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) – 43% of women are aware vs. 52% of men,.* There is a clear opportunity to engage women by initiating a platform to inform, exchange and educate to help bridge this gender gap.

Mastercard’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI):
Mastercard’s ongoing commitment to financial and social inclusion is at the intersection of innovation and technology. Recent work includes its LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Your True Self is Priceless campaign, new non-binary community research in 16 markets across Europe and North America, and the release of its refreshed Gender Balance initiative on the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Source:
*Research conducted by The Harris Poll and Mastercard Global Foresights, Insights and Analytics from March 21 to April 21, 2022. Online interviews were conducted among 35,040 global adults (17,071 women, 17,969 men) and includes nationally representative samples from markets across 5 regions.

Source: Mastercard Latin America & the Caribbean