MasterCard payment system will begin support for payments in cryptocurrency, indicated in the company’s press release. Thanks to the partnership with a cryptocurrency platform Bakkt, the company will allow customers to buy, sell and store digital assets.
The new Crypto-AS-A-service service will provide quick access to cryptocurrency operations, the MasterCard representatives declare. Partners, including shopping points and banks, will soon be able to add support for digital assets to their own products, and users will have the opportunity to control their cryptocurrency balance through electronic wallets tied to debit and credit cards.
MasterCard cryptocurrency holders will launch a special loyalty program. Instead of ordinary buying points, customers will be able to receive and spend remuneration in cryptocurrency. “MasterCard seeks to expand the list of possible payment methods to ensure every day to provide [customers] an increasing choice, better and efficient service,” says the executive vice president of Mastercard Sherry Haymond’s digital partnership. The Bakkt platform conducted a poll of 2000 American consumers and found that almost half (48%) of respondents bought cryptocurrency in the first half of 2021.
American billionaire investor Paul Tudord Jones recently called cryptocurrency with a more efficient way to accumulate and preserve capital than gold. According to him, digital assets are better protected from inflation, since they are not controlled by central banks. Gold lost in price eight percent over the past 12 months compared with the annual increase in the value of Bitcoin in 437 percent.