Mastercard is partnering with several companies in the financial and cryptocurrency industry to enhance its wallet and exchange card program.
In Short
- Mastercard works alongside Circle, Uphold, Paxos, and Bitpay.
- The alliance will use USDC as a means for issuers to pay Mastercard.
Using Mastercard to Pay with Bitcoin. Mastercard’s multinational financial services company announced a partnership to improve its card program. This includes banks, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges. Among the companies involved in the partnership are Uphold, Bitpay, Evolve Bank & Trust, and Paxos Trust Company. They’ll collaborate to simplify the conversion of cryptocurrencies to domestic money.
The multinational partnered with Circle, the creator of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, to carry out a pilot plan. According to the announced procedures, the alliance will use USDC to make it easier for card issuers to settle payments to Mastercard.
The agreement contemplates that Mastercard, Paxos, and Circle will use their platforms to convert cryptocurrency to fiat money via USDC, which is more expeditious. “Simplifying the process will allow more banks and partners the opportunity to offer their consumers the option to pay with cryptocurrencies,” the statement released on July 20 said.
Cryptocurrency providers planning to launch or expand card programs “may find it challenging to perform currency conversion.” They note that Mastercard considers “a critical step preceding settlement” on its network. In that regard, the company believes the commitment made to Evolve, Paxos, and Circle “solves this challenge” for participants across the industry, they noted.
Mastercard makes evident the role of its partners.
As noted at the outset, Mastercard teamed up with several industry companies to kick off pilot testing. Mastercard hopes the new enhancements will attract more companies from the traditional financial sector and cryptocurrencies.
In the companies chosen to facilitate card issuance, Mastercard reports that it is in talks with Evolve Bank & Trust and Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Concerning technology related to cryptocurrency wallets and custody services, they are working with Uphold and BitPay. While to support processing and program management, they partnered with Apto Payments and Galileo Financial Technologies.
Mastercard’s approval of stablecoins and bitcoin
The payments industry giant had already given its go-ahead on stablecoins and bitcoin. Last February, Mastercard indicated that it would give the green light to stablecoins. It considered them more reliable among many of the available payment options currently available.
It also announced that it would allow merchants affiliated with Mastercard to receive cryptocurrency payments through its network by the year’s end.