15.7 C
New York
Sunday, October 1, 2023

Buy now

Mastercard Furthers Investment Into Crypto Card Integration

Mastercard is queuing up a full suite of crypto partners, according to an announcement this week, in efforts to streamline its card program for crypto wallets and exchanges. The company initiative seeks to provide crypto companies with a card option that gives crypto-holders the ability to spend their digital assets anywhere that Mastercard is accepted.
Swipin’ New Partnerships
The flurry of partnerships include:

Circle
Paxos
Evolve Bank & Trust
Metropolitan Commercial Bank
Uphold
BitPay
Apto Payments
i2c Inc.
Galileo Financial Technologies

Each partner looks to play a unique role in Mastercards revitalization to the firm’s already existing Crypto Card Program. Evolve Bank & Trust and Metropolitan Commercial Bank are set to likely be the card issuers while Uphold and BitPay provide supporting crypto wallet technology infrastructure. Meanwhile, i2c Inc., Apto Payments, and Galileo Financial Technologies will support processing and program management for Mastercard.
Paxos and Circle, arguably two of the most recognizable names in the list, will support Mastercard with the conversion of crypto-to-fiat by way of stablecoins; the process will allow Mastercard to have stronger internal stability and ideally allow more banks and crypto partners to get involved down the line. For Circle, Mastercard is another strong partnership in the mix after the firm locked in Visa as a partner back in December 2020. Circle, of course, is a major payments infrastructure firm most known for being the principal operator for the USD Coin (USDC).

Mastercard is one of the largest financial services firms across the globe, and is now doubling down on crypto-integrated efforts. | Source: NYSE: MA on TradingView.com
Related Reading | As Bitcoin Drops Below $30k, Stablecoins Surpass $100 Billion In Total Supply
What It Means
The announcement comes less than a month after primary Mastercard competitor Visa shared that their customers had spent over $1B on crypto-linked cards just mid-way through the calendar year. Consumer demand is undoubtedly making waves when it comes to mainstream corporate adoption in the crypto-sphere.
“Today not all crypto companies have the foundational infrastructure to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency, and we’re making it easier” said the firm’s EVP of digital asset and blockchain products & partnerships Raj Dhamodharan in the release. “Mastercard expects to deliver on our promise of consumer choice to provide options to people around the world on how and when to pay.”
Elsewhere in the release, established partners showed excitement around a move that clearly signals increased crypto adoption; BitPay co-founder and CEO Stephen Pair noted that the partnership shows promise to “accelerate consumers’ use of crypto as a means of commerce.”
Could a new race in stablecoin-to-fiat adoption for major institutions be well underway?
Related Reading | This Is Why Grayscale Is Doubling Down On Its DeFi Bet With New Fund

Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com

Christian Robinson
Christian Robinson
I’m a regular contributor to Forbes, CoinDesk, and Bitcoin Magazine, among others. My work focuses on providing analysis of the latest trends in the crypto industry, as well as offering insights into investment opportunities. I have a strong track record of identifying emerging technologies and assets that can achieve significant growth. As such, I believe that I am uniquely positioned to help investors navigate the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrency.

Latest Articles

bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 27,214.29
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,690.10
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 215.84
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.520926
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999963
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 1,689.54
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 23.22
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.261949
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.062816
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.089017
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 2.07
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.21
matic-network
Polygon (MATIC) $ 0.556771
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 67.25
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 237.18
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 8.10
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 27,281.31
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000007
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00
true-usd
TrueUSD (TUSD) $ 0.999070
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 4.56
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 3.68
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 9.64
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.113257
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 147.36
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 43.34
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 16.49
binance-usd
BUSD (BUSD) $ 1.00
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 7.33
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.050527
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.39
lido-dao
Lido DAO (LDO) $ 1.67
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 3.25
maker
Maker (MKR) $ 1,549.49
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.051256
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 5.62
quant-network
Quant (QNT) $ 90.67
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.396617
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.017378
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.949601
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 1.15
optimism
Optimism (OP) $ 1.40
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.050713
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 69.42
rocket-pool-eth
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 1,825.16
the-graph
The Graph (GRT) $ 0.091802
algorand
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.104689
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 5.17
usdd
USDD (USDD) $ 0.998223