Mastercard has partnered with Bakkt Holdings Inc, a digital asset portal established by Intercontinental Exchange, to let banks and merchants on its payment network to integrate cryptocurrency into their offerings.
This includes:
- Debit cards/credit cards that get crypto rewards that can be spent.
- Bitcoin wallets.
- Loyalty programs where hotel or airline points can be changed to Bitcoin.
Customers can spend the earned crypto rewards at any of the retailers on Mastercard’s network. Bakkt will provide the custodial services behind the scenes for customers who register.
After this news surfaced, the shares of Bakkt rose to $12.78 by 40-percent and that of Mastercard increased by 1.2%. With this big announcement, the crypto economy is soon expected to boom.
Earlier in February 2021, Mastercard said it would start letting its consumers to transact in specific cryptocurrencies on its retailer network. This was a move that was initiated after its rival Visa Inc had tied up with a crypto start-up to provide a credit card allows cardholders earn Bitcoin rewards on purchases.
The present initiative taken by Mastercard brings the crypto world a step nearer to closing the gap with the conventional credit card payment industry. The new offerings indicate a unique chance to satisfy the growing demand for flexibility in payments and rewards in the form of cryptocurrencies.
As of now, it is not clear when this partnership or other such crypto deals from Mastercard nations will happen outside the US.
The present announcement by Mastercard could result in a remarkable expansion in the way in which Americans earn or spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
