Research in consumer interest and investment in digital currencies shows that up to 20% of the population in some countries are holding cryptocurrencies. With cryptocurrencies becoming more and more popular, companies are taking steps to make it easier for customers to make transactions using their crypto assets.
The next company to follow this trend is Mastercard.
On February 10th, Mastercard announced that it would start working towards supporting cryptocurrencies on its payment network. This is a huge move as Mastercard is the second-largest payment network (right behind Visa) in the global payments industry and is accepted by millions of merchants worldwide.
The reason why Mastercard is taking this next step is that there is a huge increase in the number of customers who are using their debit cards to buy cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin. Especially during Bitcoin’s recent surge in price.
It’s important to note though that they will not support all cryptocurrencies. In order for a cryptocurrency to be supported on Mastercard, it needs to reach its 4 requirements.
As stated on Mastercard’s website, they stated, “First and foremost we need consumer protections, including privacy and security of consumers’ information — the same level of security people have come to expect in their credit cards.
Next, strict compliance protocols will be needed, including Know Your Customer, a requirement meant to snuff out illegal activity and deception in payment networks.
Also, these digital assets must follow local laws and regulations in the regions they are used. Lastly, … crypto assets will need to offer the stability people need in a vehicle for spending, not investment.”
Mastercard Supporting Crypto
Adding cryptocurrency as a payment method is huge for Mastercard as they are already ahead of the game when it comes to cryptocurrency.
For example, they noticed that users who bought crypto with their debit cards took advantage of crypto cards to access them and convert them to traditional currencies.
So just this past November, they partnered up with Wirex, a native cryptocurrency platform, to create the first crypto Mastercard debit card.
The Wirex Mastercard Card is linked to 19 secure currency accounts in the app. 10 of these accounts are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, XRP, and Ethereum. The other 9 are fiat currencies like the USD, JPY, and EUR.
This allows users to seamlessly spend multiple fiat and cryptocurrencies, anywhere Mastercards are accepted.
Because of this and all the other benefits of the card, Pavel Matveev, the CEO and Co-Founder of Wirex, believes that this will be a “competition-killer for the fintech and crypto space.”
Mastercard making this announcement is just one of many in companies’ efforts to legitimize the use of crypto. Just recently, Tesla and Venmo also made similar announcements where they plan to allow purchases with Bitcoin. So, this trend will definitely continue to give customers more options on how they make purchases.
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The Wirex Mastercard Card is linked to 19 secure currency accounts in the app. 10 of these accounts are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, XRP, and Ethereum. The other 9 are fiat currencies like the USD, JPY, and EUR.
