Mastercard has displayed a continued commitment in continually expanding its footprint within the crypto sphere via partnerships and various acquisitions while also displaying increased internal support for cryptocurrencies on its own platform.
By Andrew Senior
November 8th, 2021
In September of this year, Mastercard acquired CipherTrace, a leading cryptocurrency intelligence company that provides detailed insight into more than 900 different cryptocurrencies. Additional partnerships have been formed with several leading crypto players and new platforms have been put into place to test and support various digital currencies. In October, a partnership was announced with Bakkt to bring crypto loyalty services to Mastercard’s customer base and now Mastercard has announced partnerships with three cryptocurrency service providers to bring crypto-funded payment cards to the Asia Pacific region.
Mastercard has joined forces with Amber Group, Bitkub in Thailand, and CoinJar in Australia, all three companies offer cryptocurrency purchase and exchange services in each of their domestic markets. Mastercard will offer customers and businesses in the three regions the first chance to obtain a crypto-linked Mastercard in the form of either a credit card, debit card, or pre-paid payment card with the ability to quickly convert crypto holdings into fiat currency which can then be spent anywhere Mastercard is accepted around the world.
Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael recently commented on the partnership with Mastercard laying out some of the goals the two companies have;
“We’re lowering the barriers to entry, allowing people to take something like your rewards points and trade them into crypto. It’s an easy way to get going because you’re not using cash, you’re putting something that’s an idle asset sitting on your balance sheet, and we’re allowing you to put in to work.”
Mastercard is working hard behind the scenes to increase the integration of cryptocurrencies into its packages of financial services for its customers and business partners. Mastercards recent moves to link cryptocurrencies to their traditional card offerings should help quickly widen the adoption of cryptocurrencies while also making digital holdings all the more commonplace in daily transactions.
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