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According to Reuters, global payment giant Mastercard hopes to expand its cryptocurrency payment card program by seeking more partnerships with crypto firms.
"We have dozens of partners around the world who offer crypto card programs, and they continue to expand," Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's head of crypto and blockchain, told Reuters.
This is even as the crypto sector comes under closer scrutiny from regulators, and banks are becoming more cautious.
After several major cryptocurrency businesses failed last year, including the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, banks have grown wary of dealing with cryptocurrency clients. In the meantime, U.S. regulators are stepping up enforcement action in the crypto market.
Mastercard has already partnered with crypto exchanges, including Binance, Nexo and Gemini to offer cryptocurrency-linked payment cards in select nations.
Tomiwabold OlajideLast year, Mastercard and Binance crypto exchange teamed up to launch prepaid cards in Latin American countries. In March, Binance announced the launch of its prepaid card in Colombia, the third country in Latin America to support the product, following its debut in Argentina last year and Brazil in January.
Binance Card holders will be able to pay by using different currencies such as BNB, BUSD, USDT, BTC, ETH, SANTOS, ADA, DOT, SOL, SHIB, XRP, MATIC and LINK.
Mastercard has inked remarkable partnership deals with crypto firms in the past. Among these is its partnership with Coinbase on NFTs and Bakkt to let banks and merchants in its network offer crypto-related services.
In the past year, Mastercard launched a program to let financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading to their clients.
Vladislav Sopov
Alex Dovbnya
Dan Burgin