mastercard bitcoin

Mastercard to Enable Merchants on Its Network to Offer Crypto Products and Services

26/10/2021 by Idelto Editor

Payments giant Mastercard has partnered with a cryptocurrency exchange to allow its partners and merchants in the U.S. to offer crypto solutions, including the buying, selling, and holding of cryptocurrencies. “We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to whatever it is they’re doing.”

Mastercard’s Network Integrates Crypto

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and cryptocurrency exchange platform Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) announced “a multifaceted partnership” Monday at the Money20/20 event.

The partnership aims “to make it easier for merchants, banks, and fintechs in the U.S. to embrace and offer a broad set of cryptocurrency solutions and services,” the announcement details. “Bakkt extends Mastercard’s ecosystem of cryptocurrency partners enabling crypto-as-a-service, which provides quick access to cryptocurrency capabilities.”

The two companies explained:

Mastercard partners will be able to offer cryptocurrency solutions. These include the ability for consumers to buy, sell and hold digital assets through custodial wallets powered by the Bakkt platform and streamlined issuance of branded crypto debit and credit cards.

The payments giant has relationships with more than 20,000 financial institutions worldwide, and there are 2.8 billion Mastercards in use, according to the company. An October 2019 Nilson Report states that Visa and Mastercard both had 52.9 million merchants — more than any other company worldwide.

Mastercard further revealed that crypto will also be integrated into its loyalty solutions, allowing its partners to “offer cryptocurrency as rewards and create fungibility between loyalty points and other digital assets.” The announcement adds:

This means that consumers can earn and spend rewards in cryptocurrency instead of traditional loyalty points and seamlessly convert their crypto holdings to pay for purchases.

Sherri Haymond, Mastercard’s executive vice president of digital partnerships, was quoted as saying: “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.”

Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael opined: “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 it to work.”

What do you think about Mastercard helping merchants on its network integrate crypto solutions? Let us know in the comments section below.

Mastercard Launches Global Program to Help Cryptocurrency Startups Scale Their Innovations

28/07/2021 by Idelto Editor

Payments giant Mastercard has launched a new, global program for cryptocurrency startups. Seven crypto companies have already joined the program. Together with Mastercard, they will work to “expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology and make it safer and easier for people and institutions to buy, spend and hold cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”

Mastercard’s New Crypto Program

Mastercard announced Tuesday “a new Start Path global startup engagement program dedicated to supporting fast-growing digital assets, blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.”
Seven startups have already joined the program. They will work with Mastercard “to expand and accelerate innovation around digital asset technology and make it safer and easier for people and institutions to buy, spend and hold cryptocurrencies and digital assets,” the announcement details.
The startups include GK8, Mintable, Stacs, and Supraoracles. GK8 (Israel) is a self-managed end-to-end institutional crypto custody platform. Mintable (Singapore) is a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Stacs (Singapore) provides a blockchain infrastructure for the financial industry, and Supraoracles (Switzerland) is a blockchain oracle.
The other companies that have joined the program are Taurus, Uphold, and Domain Money. Taurus (Switzerland) provides enterprise-grade infrastructure to manage any digital assets, including crypto assets, digital currencies and tokenized assets covering issuance, custody, asset servicing and trading. Uphold (USA) is a crypto investment and payment service provider for consumers and businesses, and Domain Money (USA) looks to build an investment platform to bridge the gap between digital assets and traditional finance for retail investors.
The Start Path program has helped more than 250 startups since 2014, the announcement notes. The program now provides crypto startups access to Mastercard’s “latest tools and solutions to help these companies scale their innovations and cutting-edge technologies.”
Mastercard explained: “These startups use the program to connect with our ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners and digital players across the globe to deliver new solutions.”

Jess Turner, executive vice president of New Digital Infrastructure and Fintech, commented that “Mastercard has been engaging with the digital currency ecosystem since 2015,” elaborating:

As a leading technology player, we believe we can play a key role in digital assets, helping to shape the industry, and provide consumer protections and security. Part of our role is to forge the future of cryptocurrency, and we’re doing that by bridging mainstream financial principles with digital assets innovations.

Last week, Mastercard announced an enhancement to its card program for cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, with the aim to make it “simpler for partners to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency.”

What do you think about Mastercard’s new program for crypto startups? Let us know in the comments section below.

Mastercard Launching Crypto Rewards Credit Card With Real-Time Bitcoin Rewards

27/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

Mastercard is launching a new cryptocurrency rewards credit card featuring real-time rewards in partnership with crypto exchange Gemini. Cardholders will earn up to 3% back in real-time in bitcoin or a number of supported cryptocurrencies.

Payments giant Mastercard is launching a new crypto rewards credit card this summer in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, the two companies announced Tuesday. Mastercard will be the exclusive card network with Webbank as the bank issuing the card.

Holders of the new credit card will earn up to 3% back on qualifying purchases in bitcoin or any of the more than 30 cryptocurrencies supported by the exchange. Cryptocurrency rewards will automatically be deposited into the cardholders’ accounts at the exchange. There is also no annual fee for the card.

The project was introduced early this year and so far more than 140,000 people are on the waitlist. When launched, those who are on the waitlist will receive first access to apply for the card.

The new credit card offers “real-time crypto rewards available in all 50 U.S. states and will be accepted wherever Mastercard is accepted,” the announcement details. It further emphasizes that unlike most cards, which pay rewards out monthly, holders of this credit card “will receive their crypto rewards as the transaction occurs for most of their purchases.”

Mastercard has been working on several crypto projects. The company teamed up with Wirex and Bitpay last year and then joined forces with crypto exchange LVL this year. The payments giant announced in February that it will start supporting cryptocurrencies directly on its network.

What do you think about this new Mastercard credit card? Let us know in the comments section below.

Twitter Stock Jumps 20% Following Reports the Company Is Weighing the Possibility of Adding BTC

13/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

Buoyed by reports that Twitter has been studying the possibility of adding bitcoin to its balance sheet, the company’s stock surged to a new 52-week high of $73.18 on Feb. 12. Before the surge, the stock had been trading at just under $60 on Feb. 9. At the time of writing, Twitter’s market capitalization stood at $57.20 billion.

Telsa’s BTC Move an Inspiration

Reports of Twitter’s possible bitcoin acquisition follow Tesla’s announcement that it had acquired BTC worth $1.5 billion. Tesla’s acquisition is fueling speculation that more large corporations may follow the electric carmaker in adding BTC to their reserves. Already, Mastercard has announced it will be supporting cryptocurrencies in its payments network.

Also, as the Twitter stock responded positively to comments by one company executive, CEO Jack Dorsey was announcing the creation of a bitcoin development trust. In a tweet, Dorsey, a supporter of bitcoin, says he and hip hop artist Jay Z are “giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named Trust to fund bitcoin development.” According to Dorsey, the work of this entity will “initially be focused on teams in Africa & India.”

Stock Spike Inevitable

In the meantime, one analyst suggests that the spike in the value of the Twitter stock is hardly surprising. Vladislav Utushkin, the CEO at TTM Bank, tells news.Bitcoin.com that it is only a matter of time before “other companies follow.” He explains that “investors are attracted by the company’s approach to new, highly profitable instruments and investments.”

According to Utushkin, bitcoin is one such investment hence the stock’s recent movements. The CEO explains:

All investors who bought bitcoin earlier now make a profit. The investment in bitcoin brought Microstrategy a return of almost 300%. Tesla’s return on investment in the first 24 hours (after buying BTC) exceeded 20%. Of course, after Tesla, decisions of other companies will be perceived positively, stocks react with growth to potential growth in capitalization.

Meanwhile, at the close of trading on Feb. 12, the stock had retreated to $71.90.

Do you think that Twitter will add BTC to its balance sheet this year? You can share your views in the comments section below.

Mastercard Will Start Supporting Cryptocurrencies Directly on its Network

11/02/2021 by Idelto Editor

Payments giant Mastercard has announced that it is preparing to allow a number of cryptocurrencies to move through its network directly. Customers, merchants, and businesses will no longer need to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies to transfer through the Mastercard network.

Mastercard Prepares to Let Cryptocurrencies Move Through its Network

Mastercard announced Wednesday that it will start “bringing crypto onto its network.” In a blog post on the company’s official website, Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President of Digital Asset and Blockchain, explained that “digital assets are becoming a more important part of the payments world.” He noted that customers are using Mastercards to buy cryptocurrencies, especially during bitcoin’s bull runs, elaborating:

We are preparing right now for the future of crypto and payments, announcing that this year Mastercard will start supporting select cryptocurrencies directly on our network. This is a big change that will require a lot of work.

“We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies,” the executive emphasized, adding that the same standard applies to stablecoins. “We are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value,” he opined.

Dhamodharan pointed out that Mastercard is involved in a number of crypto projects, having teamed up with Wirex and Bitpay last year to create crypto cards that allow people to transact using their cryptocurrencies. The company then joined forces with crypto exchange LVL this year. “These relationships — with many more planned in the pipeline — build on our many years of crypto collaborations,” he said.

Even though Mastercard is involved in a number of crypto projects, Dhamodharan said that “cryptocurrencies still don’t move through our network. Our crypto partners convert the digital assets on their end to traditional currencies, then transmit them through to the Mastercard network.” He continued:

Our change to supporting digital assets directly will allow many more merchants to accept crypto — an ability that’s currently limited by proprietary methods unique to each digital asset. This change will also cut out inefficiencies, letting both consumers and merchants avoid having to convert back and forth between crypto and traditional [fiat currencies] to make purchases.

Lastly, Dhamodharan said that his company is “actively engaging” with several major central banks worldwide as they explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). “Last year, we created a test platform for these banks to use these currencies in a simulated environment,” he noted, adding that Mastercard already has “one of the payments industry’s biggest blockchain patent portfolios to draw from to make these projects successful.”

Commenting on the Mastercard news, bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz tweeted: “The Mastercard news is huge. A few months ago it would have been all the crypto community would focus on for the ensuing month. Now we are getting so much good news it almost goes unnoticed. Let me repeat. It is huge news. Crypto adoption is here.”

Recently, Mad Money host Jim Cramer said that Mastercard, along with Paypal and Elon Musk’s Tesla, is driving bitcoin more into the mainstream. Tesla revealed Monday that it has put $1.5 billion into bitcoin.

What do you think about Mastercard directly supporting cryptocurrencies on its network? Let us know in the comments section below.