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MasterCard is making bold moves to promote cryptocurrency adoption amidst major growths across the crypto economy. Reports have now stated that the firm will soon allow banks and merchants on its network to add Bitcoin (BTC/USD) into their products.
According to a CNBC report, the launch of this service will comprise Bitcoin wallets, credit cards and debit cards. These products will allow users to earn rewards in the form of cryptocurrencies and allow millions of users on the platform to spend digital assets while converting their loyalty points into crypto.
Mastercard Partners with Bakkt
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To make this move possible, MasterCard stated that it would collaborate with Bakkt. Bakkt is a cryptocurrency firm that will provide custodial services for Mastercard’s new product.
In a statement to CNBC, the executive vice president of digital partnerships at Mastercard, Sherri Haymond, stated that,
We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to whatever it is they’re doing. Our partners, be they banks, fintechs or merchants, can offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency through an integration with the Bakkt platform.
Mastercard is one of the largest digital payments platforms, and through this new initiative, it could expand how people earn and spend their crypto assets. Mastercard has a network of over 20,000 financial institutions globally. Moreover, there are around 2.8 billion actively in use globally.
Launch of Crypto Service amidst Increased Demand
The launch of this service comes at a time when interest in cryptocurrencies is high. Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market has enjoyed major growth this year, with the coin hitting an all-time high of $67K last week.
The US financial market regulators seem to be opening up to cryptocurrencies as they recently approved a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund. Major banking institutions on Wall Street have also shown openness towards investing in cryptocurrencies.
The growth of cryptocurrencies and high demand from users is among the reasons why Mastercard launched its crypto service. Haymond stated that with the rapid growth of this sector, Mastercard’s new service would allow banks to retail their customers instead of these customers moving their funds to crypto exchanges.