The leading payment services provider, Mastercard, has launched a new euro-denominated crypto debit card. The card enables users to make payments in crypto at over 100 million merchant outlets globally. All you have to do is connect your self-custodial crypto wallet to the card and then you can make purchases like you would with any other debit card.
To integrate crypto payments from non-custodial crypto wallets, Mastercard has partnered with Mercuryo, – a European-based company that specialises in providing crypto payments infrastructure.
The new offering is indeed a significant and impactful move from the payment services giant to bridge the gap between traditional and decentralised finance.
Commenting on their partnership with Mercuryo, in a statement issued to CoinTelegraph, Christian Rau, a senior VP at Mastercard’s crypto and fintech front said: “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.”
How Will This New Crypto Debit Card Benefit Users
The new crypto debit card offering from Mastercard has a number of benefits for users.
Firstly, with this euro-denominated card, users can directly connect their non-custodial crypto wallets and make payments at merchant outlets. It means users will be able to shop with crypto even at stores that don’t accept crypto payments directly.
It will also help save significant amounts of money lost in fees and charges. This is because crypto users will not have to transfer their crypto assets to a centralised exchange and buy fiat currencies to use them. Once the card is connected to the crypto wallet, they will be able to use it like any other debit card.
While the new crypto card comes with a fee, it is comparatively less than what one would incur while undergoing the entire process of converting their crypto assets to fiat through exchanges and crypto apps.
The one-time fee to get the new card is €1.6. Additionally, users will have to shell out a €1 monthly maintenance fee to continue using the card.
Back in August, Mastercard had rolled out a similar offering in partnership with Metamask. This new crypto debit card in partnership with Mecuryo, is another step forward from Mastercard towards making it easy for crypto users to make their everyday purchases.
