199
In a recent press release, Mastercard has revealed plans to allow crypto companies and traditional banks to offer crypto cards to customers interested in digital asset transactions. According to the announcement, the feature will reduce friction in experience and provide more options to customers of crypto companies.
Mastercard also hopes to exploit its current global presence for this purpose. The release states:
“Mastercard and its partners will test this new capability to enable more banks and crypto companies to offer a card option to people wanting to spend their digital assets anywhere Mastercard is accepted.”
The feature will also help crypto adoption by making it easier to convert crypto to traditional fiat and vice versa. Mastercard has partnered with firms including BitPay, Uphold, Paxos, and Circle to make this a reality. Other official partners include Galileo Financial Technologies, i2c Inc., Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and Evolve Bank & Trust.
The partnership with Circle involves using the USD Coin (USDC) to power these transactions. Mastercard will use the USDC to ensure that users do not lose value to crypto’s volatility.
Mastercard may be offering a similar product to Visa’s as the latter plans to issue a Bitcoin debit card to customers in Australia. Interested persons would be able to trade and transact major altcoins, including ETH, XRP, and BCH.
Image Credits: Pixabay
