Summary:
- Satvik Sethi, former NFT product lead at Mastercard, made public allegations of workplace mistreatment as he resigned.
- Sethi claims that Mastercard cut out his salary package by 40%, and there were instances when he had to beg „across the hierarchy“ of Mastercard just to receive his salary.
- In a coup de grâce move, Sethi minted and sold his resignation letter as an NFT.
Mastercard Facing Controversy
Payments tech firm Mastercard began its foray into NFTs in 2021. Satvik Sethi, its former NFT product lead, made public allegations of workplace mistreatment as he resigned. In a coup de grâce move, Sethi minted and sold his resignation letter as an NFT.
Sethi’s Allegations
Sethi railed against the payments tech giant for allegedly mistreating him and downplaying his role in the company’s ambition to enter the crypto space. He claims that Mastercard cut out his salary package by 40%, this, during the recent bear cycle and industry-wide decline in NFTs. This also coincided with his decision to move from New York City to London. According to Sethi, he „had to work side jobs this past year to make ends meet“ because of the pay cuts. He also alleges that he was harassed by the management due to „a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication [and] internal inefficiency.“
Resignation Letter as an NFT
After resigning from Mastercard, Sethi asked his Twitter followers to support him with the minting of an NFT: his own resignation letter. The NFT was minted for 0.023 ETH with 100% proceeds going towards survival funds for him.
„Lose British Work Visa“
Sethi later mentioned that soon he will lose British work visa due to which he has planned fallback plan of being based in India for foreseeable future.