The Product Lead at Mastercard said that he was a victim of harassment & emotional distress caused by a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication, and internal inefficiency.
On Thursday, February 2, Satvik Sethi – the non-fungible tokens (NFT) product lead at Mastercard – resigned from his role while minting his resignation letter from the global payments giant, in the form of an NFT.
In a series of tweets, Sethi explained his decision of leaving adding that it “wasn’t easy”. Sethi further explained that he would continue to focus and also on creating full-time art. In his resignation letter, Sethi wrote:
“As you are all aware, I am extremely passionate about Web3 and that passion is what originally led me to my current role in 2021. I have long been fascinated by the potential of Web3 to change the world for the better, and I believe that now more than ever is the right time for me to fully immerse myself in this space – through my ventures, my art and my industry knowledge.”
Sethi has minted his resignation letter as an open-edition NFT using the digital collectibles protocol Manifold. He added that 100% of the proceeds of this NFT will “go to survival”. The project dubbed “New Beginnings” has been priced at 0.023 ETH (about $38) each. So far 12 NFTs have been minted.
Moving away from Mastercard, its former NFT product lead plans to further devote his time to building his own Web3 social networking and community-building site Joincircle.
Satvik Sethi Blames Mastercard Higher Management
In his long Twitter thread, Sethi wrote that he felt completely neglected by the company. He said that having moved from NYC to London due to visa issues, his salary was cut by 40% while his workload increased by 200%. Sethi added that he had to do side jobs in order to make ends meet.
“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,” he added.
Besides, Sethi highlighted some unethical HR practices of the company that despite a 3 month notice period, he received only a month’s pay and no bonuses. When Sethi pointed out the company’s previous conversations, he was locked out from all his accounts.
“They might try to discredit me or downplay my contributions. But the fact is – globally our partners, clients, and regional teams associate Mastercard x 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,” he added.
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