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Summary
- Mastercard is planning to start allowing transactions using some cryptocurrencies on its network later this year.
- The move comes after Tesla bought US $1.5 billion in Bitcoin earlier this week.
- Several companies such as Blackrock, Square, and PayPal have recently made similar announcements.
Credit card payments company Mastercard (NYSE:MA) announced that it would allow cardholders to transact using some cryptocurrencies on its platform starting later this year. The financial services giant is the latest in various other companies to back crypto assets and blockchain products.
The financial services company's cryptocurrency partner program, Accelerate, includes partnerships with several leading digital currency majors such as Wirex and BitPay. The program is intended to provide Mastercard cardholders with streamlined access to cryptocurrencies for transaction services.
Read More: Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to Face a £14.0 Billion Class Action Suit in the UK
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The payments giant also said it was in talks with some major central banks worldwide to help in reviewing their plans of launching and developing new digital currencies.
Mastercard's EVP of digital asset and blockchain products and partnerships Raj Dhamodharan said the company would not support cryptocurrencies on its network unless they met with four critical criteria. This included consumer protection, compliance protocols, abiding by local laws in the regions the currencies are used, and finally, the facility for a digital asset to make payments.
Want to know more? Do Read: Tesla jumps on Bitcoin bandwagon, how is the crypto currency looking on charts?
The company already allows cardholders to use cryptocurrencies via their cards. However, the new announcement will enable consumers to directly pay using digital currencies without being converted to traditional currencies first.
Rising cryptocurrency adoption
Recently, Elon Musk-owned electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) created headlines after it announced an investment of US $1.5 billion in the oldest crypto-asset Bitcoin and said that it would accept payments in the form of crypto currency.
Several other major financial services companies have also backed cryptocurrency recently, bringing the asset further into the mainstream. In October last year, Online payments giant PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) announced that its digital assets' adoption as part of its transaction services will start later in 2021. Additionally, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey owned payments company Square (NYSE:SQ) had bought 4,709 bitcoins worth a total of US $50 million in October 2020.
Want to know more? Do Read: Is Cryptocurrency hitting the mainstream again?
In another significant development, the world's largest asset management firm BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) announced its foray into blockchain and digital assets by approving two of its funds to invest in Bitcoin futures.
Share performance and comparison
Mastercard's stock price closed at US $334.21 up by 0.29 per cent as of 10 February, 7.54 PM GMT. Comparatively, Paypal closed at US $283.18, down by 0.36 per cent, on the same day. Both the companies are listed on the NASDAQ.
For the same day, the NYSE-listed companies Square’s and Blackrock's share prices closed at US $257.49, down by 0.27 per cent and US $723.17 down by 0.69 per cent, respectively.
