Mastercard announces enhancement of card program for crypto-wallets, exchanges

Payment processing giant Mastercard has announced

the enhancement of its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges. The company aims to make it simple for partners to convert crypto into traditional fiat currency and to achieve this, it is working with Evolve Bank & Trust, Paxos Trust Company, and Circle.

As per an official announcement, these partners will help Mastercard in testing this new capability to enable more banks and crypto-companies to offer a card option to people wanting to spend their digital assets. This announcement by the payment processor followed its competitor Visa’s announcement of becoming a global leader for crypto-card payments, one promising to make crypto as usable as other currencies.

With its current program, Mastercard intends to make it easier for banks and crypto-companies to offer a crypto-card that would function on its existing payment network. This, the company claims, will solve an important pain point that has kept crypto-adoption at bay – Instant crypto to fiat transactions. Given Mastercard’s large net of merchants, this program can boost the adoption of crypto across the world.

The executive vice president of digital assets and blockchain products & partnerships at Mastercard said,

“Today not all crypto companies have the foundational infrastructure to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency, and we’re making it easier. Through our engagement with Evolve, Paxos, Circle, and the larger digital assets community, Mastercard expects to deliver on our promise of consumer choice to provide options to people around the world on how and when to pay.”

A partnership with Paxos and Circle can definitely help it curb this pain point. What’s more, with the onboarding of stablecoins like PAX and USDC, users will be able to instantly convert digital assets into stablecoin USDC and then to the USD.

Even though many institutions have shown an inclination towards crypto of late, they have stayed away during periods of high volatility and regulatory tensions. However, Mastercard remains a strong partner for the exchange in trouble, Binance, through its regulatory woes.

Meanwhile, over on the competitor’s side, Visa noted that crypto-linked card usage topped $1 billion in the first half of 2021. With this program, Mastercard could challenge Visa, its payment network, and its claim to be the global leader for crypto-card payments.