Mastercard enables merchants on its network to offer crypto products and services – Finance

Payments giant Mastercard has partnered with a cryptocurrency exchange to enable its partners and merchants in the US to offer crypto solutions, including buying, selling and holding cryptocurrencies. “We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to everything they do.”

Mastercard's network integrates crypto

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

The partnership aims to “make it easier for merchants, banks and fintechs in the US to adopt and offer a wide range of cryptocurrency solutions and services,” the announcement said. “Bakkt expands Mastercard’s ecosystem of cryptocurrency partners and enables crypto-as-a-service, providing quick access to cryptocurrency features.”

The two companies stated:

Mastercard partners can 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, according to the company, there are 2.8 billion Mastercards in use. An October 2019 Nilson report said that both Visa and Mastercard 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 instead of traditional loyalty points, consumers can earn and spend rewards in cryptocurrency and seamlessly convert their crypto holdings into paying 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 their activities. Our partners, be they banks, fintechs or merchants, can offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies through an integration with the Bakkt platform."

Gavin Michael, CEO of Bakkt, said: "We're lowering the barriers to entry and allowing people to do something like take your rewards points and exchange them for crypto. It's an easy way to get started because you're not using cash, you're putting something that's an idle asset on your balance sheet and we're allowing you to make it work."

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

Photo credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons