Mastercard NFT lead mints his resignation letter as an NFT

The head of Mastercard’s NFT-related efforts has resigned over internal strife he claims he experienced at the payments giant. Satvik Sethi, officially product lead of NFTs for Mastercard’s blockchain and digital asset products department, explained his departure in a Twitter thread posted on Thursday:

“At Mastercard, I was a victim of harassment [and] emotional distress caused by a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication, internal inefficiency,” he wrote.

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Mastercard said: “We would simply note that we treat each and every one of our employees with decency and respect. We take these matters very seriously and are looking into the concerns raised by Mr. Sethi. We will do so with respect for his privacy.”

Sethi’s Twitter thread announcing his departure received significant attention, garnering 227,000 views, nearly 200 retweets and numerous sympathetic comments, at the time of writing. Web3 enthusiasts particularly took a liking to the thread because of Sethi’s decision to mint his resignation letter as an NFT and sell it as a means of financial support. The token, listed on the Manifold marketplace, has sold 77 copies at 0.023 ETH a piece, or just under $40.

Sethi, a citizen of India, claims the trouble began when he moved from New York to London due to issues with his visa. His salary was reduced by 40% upon relocation, while his workload increased by 200%, he wrote. Outside of Mastercard, Sethi is the founder and CEO of Joincircle, a Web3 social networking platform.

Sethi said that facing financial instability he was forced to take on side jobs while continuing his work at Mastercard. When reached by Ad Age, Sethi explained that these jobs included consulting and advisory work for NFT projects, as well as ghostwriting and editorial work for online blogs and creators. At Mastercard, his primary focus was to lay the groundwork and develop strategy for the company’s Web3 programs, according to his resignation letter. 

The harassment Sethi said he experienced included being condescendingly rejected upon asking for support and resources, as well as degradation and pressure to make decisions. As for inefficiencies pertaining to his compensation, he claimed that he didn’t receive his salary for months at a time—an impasse that ended only when he “begged across the hierarchy for it.” Some time after being told by HR he needed to serve a three-month notice before he could leave, Sethi said he learned he would only be paid for one month. He said that when he tried to challenge this he was informed that he either had to accept the deal by the end of the day or lose his bonus.

“It’s the lackadaisical attitude from my hierarchy and HR that ruined this experience for me,” he told Ad Age, echoing a follow-up tweet he posted Thursday. “I don’t think they expected me to go public this way otherwise they probably would’ve treated me better.”

Mastercard has shown serious interest in Web3, especially compared to other traditional brands. Last summer, it teamed with Time and Salesforce to launch an NFT collection to drive revenue for local businesses in Miami. Mastercard also announced last month a Web3 artist accelerator in partnership with Polygon Studios. Chief marketer Raja Rajamannar outlined the company’s confidence in the space in a recent interview with Ad Age.

Sethi had worked at Mastercard since August 2020, according to his LinkedIn. Now that he has left Mastercard, he said that his visa is invalidated and he has returned to India. He will continue working in Web3, he said.