Want to use your crypto for everyday purchases? Mastercard’s latest partnership has you covered.
Here’s the latest crypto news: Mastercard, the global payment giant, is stepping up its support for non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets through a new partnership that empowers users to manage and spend crypto while “being their own bank.”
Following the successful pilot of a crypto debit card with the self-custodial wallet MetaMask in August, Mastercard has deepened its commitment to bridging traditional finance and crypto.
Its latest move involves teaming up with the European crypto payments infrastructure, Mercuryo, to introduce a euro-denominated debit card. This card allows users to spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) stored in self-custodial wallets at more than 100 million merchants worldwide within the Mastercard network.
Self-custody is central to cryptocurrency, offering users a way to store their assets independently, without relying on centralized entities like banks or exchanges. Unlike custodial wallets, where a third party manages your funds, self-custodial wallets give the user full responsibility for securing their assets via private keys.
Christian Rau, Mastercard’s senior VP for crypto and fintech enablement, emphasized:
Through our collaboration with Mercuryo, we’re eliminating the traditional barriers between blockchain and conventional payments, providing consumers who want to spend their digital assets with an easy, reliable, and secure way to do so, anywhere Mastercard is accepted.”
Over the past three years, Mastercard has partnered with major players in the industry, including stablecoin provider Circle, and crypto exchange Coinbase.
This recent focus on self-custody wallets aims to tackle the complexities that come with using centralized exchanges for crypto transactions.
According to Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s blockchain and digital asset lead, many crypto users prefer to avoid exchanges, as the process can be cumbersome and limit their purchasing power.
However, Mastercard’s expanded services don’t come without a cost. The new Mastercard-branded Spend card by Mercuryo, for example, has a 1.6 euro ($1.8) issuance fee, a 1 euro ($1.1) monthly maintenance fee, and a 0.95% off-ramp fee charged by Mercuryo.
