- Payment giant Mastercard’s NFT head has left the firm and converted his resignation letter into an NFT
- He attributed his resignation to harassment
- He now wants to build a Web 3.0 company instead of seeking employment
Mastercard’s NFT head Satvik Sethi has left the payments giants and turned his resignation letter into an Ethereum NFT which can be minted as a way to support his next move. Sethi resigned due to a poor working environment that he claims was littered with harassment causing emotional distress. Sethi now wants to build his own Web 3.0 company instead of seeking employment.
Harassment and Months Without Pay
Pouring out the details on Twitter, Sethi said that he was the glue holding Mastercard’s Web 3.0 ambitions together since joining the company in 2020. According to the former Mastercard NFT lead, the payments giant intentionally mismanaged processes to frustrate his work, something that would see him go for “months at a time” without being paid.
At Mastercard, I was a victim of harassment & emotional distress caused by a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication, internal inefficiency. There were months at a time when I wouldn’t receive my salary until I begged across the hierarchy for it, among many other issues.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
He added that the payment’s heavyweight would cleverly block his resignation by requiring a 3-month notice of his intention to leave the company. Sethi also claimed that they blocked him from accessing his accounts that held ideas he “spent months designing.”
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, & peers. pic.twitter.com/fnqKs3I7HW
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
Sethi disclosed that his action would see him lose his work visa in London forcing him to relocate to India “for the foreseeable future.”
New Beginnings
He revealed that he’ll continue building in the Web 3.0 space and has asked anyone willing to offer support to mint his resignation letter NFT dubbed “New Beginnings.” Sethi’s predicaments come less than a month since Mastercard partnered with Polygon to help musicians adopt Web 3.0 and a year since it enabled its cardholders to buy NFTs directly from Coinbase NFT.
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.
Would appreciate RTs, 100% of this goes to survival. This isn’t gambling money.https://t.co/OqxRD6LHvd
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
The move also comes at a time when crypto and Web 3.0 projects like Metaplex and Kraken are reducing their workforce to cope with the prolonged crypto winter. With Sethi out, it’s unclear whether Mastercard will declare the position vacant or whether they already have someone to take over in an acting capacity.
