Mastercard has agreed to extend its support for wallets that are not custodial, allowing customers to spend cryptocurrencies while still having complete control over their assets.
Mastercard has partnered with European cryptocurrency payments platform Mercuryo to introduce a debit card denominated in euros.
Following the successful launch of its crypto debit card trial with MetaMask in August.
With this card, customers may spend cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, at more than 100 million Mastercard-affiliated merchants, all while keeping their funds in self-custodial wallets.
Christian Rau, the senior vice president of Mastercard’s crypto and fintech enablement, spoke about the firm’s collaboration with Mercuryo, which builds on its growing commitment to support self-custodial wallets.
“At Mastercard, we are working closely with our partners to innovate and improve the self-custody wallet experience,” Rau said, adding:
Through our collaboration with Mercuryo, we’re eliminating the barriers between blockchain and traditional payments, providing users who want to spend their digital assets with an easy, reliable, and secure way to do so, anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Users Can Spend Crypto From Their Non-Custodial Wallets Freely
One of the main concepts of cryptocurrencies is self-custody, which offers a replacement for relying on a centralized platform like a bank or exchange for asset storage.
As the only keeper of the private key that grants access to the wallet, self-custodial wallets place an entire responsibility on the user to ensure the security of their money, unlike custodial wallets.
In August 2024, Mastercard’s digital asset lead, Raj Dhamodharan said,
The complexity of this process has been a barrier for both buyers and sellers as it limits both choice and the purchasing power of stored crypto.
Mastercard charges for its expanding crypto and self-custody services. For instance, in addition to Mercuryo’s off-ramp 0.95% fee, the new Mastercard-branded Spend card has an issue fee of 1.60 euros ($1.80) and a monthly maintenance price of 1 euro ($1.10).
Card Adoption: The New Trend and why Mastercard Opts for it
Mastercard is a US-based firm that was founded in 1966 and provides global payment card services. In more than 210 nations and regions, it offers a range of financial services.
Mastercard’s entry into the cryptocurrency sector was somewhat expected, given that payments are one of the primary use cases for cryptocurrencies.
Citing the expanding role of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in the payments sector, the payment giant formally confirmed support for cryptocurrencies on its network in February 2021.
Since entering the cryptocurrency space more than three years ago, Mastercard has partnered with numerous companies, including Coinbase, a well-known US-based cryptocurrency exchange, and Circle, a producer of USD Coin (USDC).
The company’s newly announced commitment to promote self-custody, according to Raj intends to overcome the challenges involved in purchasing and selling cryptocurrency utilizing a centralized exchange. He thinks that a lot of cryptocurrency hodlers initially “try to avoid” exchanges.
