The former NFT product lead for the payment giant, Mastercard, claimed he had been harassed and put through a lot of emotional stress.
In a lengthy Twitter thread published on Thursday, the product NFT lead for non-financial transactions at Mastercard explained that he was leaving the global payments and credit card company due to harassment and emotional distress.
I have resigned from @Mastercard.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
For the past year, I served as the ‘NFT Product Lead.’ I evangelized Web3 for Mastercard leadership & regional teams, as well as all our Fortune 500 clients & partners.
This wasn’t easy but read on for why it was necessary, and what’s next: pic.twitter.com/kqiavsSIW7
On Twitter, Sethi said, “At Mastercard, I was a victim of harassment and 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.”
Sethi claimed that he had been told by human resources at Mastercard that he needed to give three months’ notice before he could resign because of the issues he had been having. To prevent him from leaving, as Sethi sees it.
Sethi claimed that Mastercard had locked his accounts and posted a screenshot of what appears to be his login screen on Twitter.
Not just that, I was informed by HR despite my contract that I would have to serve a 3 month notice period so I wouldn’t resign. Yet, when I resigned I was told I’ll only receive 1 month pay and no benefits, & pressured into accepting it quickly or threatened to lose my bonus.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
He said, “They might try to discredit me or downplay my contributions. But the fact is globally our partners, clients, and regional teams associate Mastercard [and] NFTs with me. When anyone across our portfolio has a question on Web3 it would be redirected to me, from the CMO to an analyst.”
Mastercard blockchain developments
Mastercard has made significant advancements in the blockchain sector over the past 12 months. Mastercard and Polygon announced the debut of their Artist Accelerator at the most recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The goal of the Mastercard Artist Accelerator is to equip artists with the tools they need to enter the Web3 market, such as the ability to mint NFTs and build a following online.
In true Web3 fashion, Sethi said that his resignation letter would be made available as an Ethereum NFT. According to the many websites hosting its mint, the tokenized letter titled “New Beginnings” had been minted 27 times as of this writing.
“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,” Sethi explained. “Art airdrop for holders in the future as thanks.”
Since joining Mastercard in August 2020 as an analyst on the company’s global bill pay product development team, Sethi has decided to leave his position there. As the company’s NFTs product manager, he eventually relocated to London.
Sethi has stated that he will lose his work VISA if he leaves Mastercard, forcing him to seek employment outside of India until he can resolve his immigration status. The former product lead has stated his intention to start his own business on LinkedIn rather than seek employment elsewhere.
Quitting Mastercard also means losing my work visa in London. I’ll be based in India for the foreseeable future until something comes along to help me find a way to get immigration on my own terms and merit. I’m heartbroken to leave all my friends in london behind, this is hard.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 2, 2023
After working on the Twitter thread for more than a year, Sethi expressed his gratitude to his followers and expressed his relief at being able to finally share it.
source: decrypt.co/