• Mastercard NFT product lead Satvik Sethi announced on February 2nd that he has resigned from his position due to harassment and distress from management.
• Sethi tokenized his resignation letter as an NFT and is selling it for 0.023 ETH ($38.00) to support himself.
• Mastercard has not commented on Sethi’s resignation, but it is likely that their cryptocurrency plans will remain unaffected.
Mike Dalton was surprised to hear the news on February 2nd that Satvik Sethi, the Mastercard NFT product lead, had resigned from his position. Sethi had been with the company for the past year, and was responsible for fielding all questions about Web3 from partners, clients, and regional teams.
Sethi announced his resignation in a series of tweets, citing harassment and distress from management as the primary reason. He stated that his salary had been denied to him, his employment contract had been overridden, and that he had been blocked from online accounts. In order to support himself, Sethi tokenized his resignation letter as an NFT and is selling it at 0.023 ETH ($38.00). This token is being sold on Manifold, and has been met with 38 mints at the time of writing.
In addition to selling his resignation letter, Sethi stated that he will air drop additional artwork to his supporters in the future. Despite his key role in the company, Mastercard has not commented on Sethi’s resignation. However, it is likely that their cryptocurrency plans will remain unaffected. Last June, Mastercard had partnered with various NFT marketplaces, including ImmutableX, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, and Nifty Gateway, allowing cardholders to buy NFTs with their cards.
It is uncertain if Mastercard will be able to find a suitable replacement for Sethi’s role, or if they will instead choose to divide the responsibilities between different members of the team. Nevertheless, Sethi’s resignation is a reminder of the importance of creating a respectful and supportive work environment for all employees.