Mastercard

Bored Apes, Moonbirds to feature on NFT-customized Mastercard debit cards

The customizable card will only support NFT avatars from select blue chip collections, subject to Mastercard’s design standards and an owner verification process.

Mastercard has launched customizable nonfungible token (NFT) debit cards, allowing some cardholders who own avatars from select NFT collections to add the artwork onto the payment card.

The debit cards are made available through a Monday partnership with the European cryptocurrency exchange platform hi, allowing its Gold members to personalize their debit cards with an NFT they verifiably own.

Gold membership with the platform is obtained by staking a minimum of 100,000 hi Dollar’s (HI), the platform’s native token, a sum worth around $4,600, according to data from CoinGecko.

The cards will allow spending in fiat, stablecoins or any cryptocurrency the user holds and is accepted wherever Mastercard is available. Other features such as hotel credits, cash back incentives and rebates on Netflix and Spotify subscriptions are also touted as benefits of certain membership levels.

Mastercard’s crypto and fintech enablement vice president, Christian Rau, said with consumer interest in NFTs and crypto growing the payments provider was “committed to making them an accessible payments choice for the communities who wish to use them.”

A limited range of NFT collections will be supported including CryptoPunk, Moonbirds, goblintown, Bored Ape and Azuki, owners of these NFTs will have to become Gold members with hi and verify their NFT ownership with the platform to receive their custom cards.

Additionally, the cards are available only within 25 European Economic Area (EEA) countries and the United Kingdom.

Related: Innovation will drive NFT adoption despite mainstream presence: NFTGo founder

With the wider downturn in crypto markets over the last few months, most of the “blue chip” NFT collections took a price hit, but data by NFTGo shows the performance of blue-chip NFTs growing steadily since Sept. 12 possibly bringing renewed interest to the largest collections.

Mastercard has helped crypto payments go mainstream with its support for the assets, even allowing Mastercard holders the ability to purchase NFTs through partnering with multiple NFT marketplaces in June.

Rep. Warren Davidson: Stablecoin bill has ‘outside chance’ of finalizing this year

Earlier this week, new draft legislation on stablecoins came to light aimed at “endogenously collateralized stablecoins.”

There is a small chance the U.S. House of Representatives could pass the bill to regulate stablecoins by year-end, though it’s more likely it will pass in the first quarter of 2023, says U.S. Congressman Warren Davidson. 

According to a Thursday report from Kitco, Davidson made the remarks at the Annual Fintech Policy Forum on Sept. 22, where he suggested:

“There’s an outside chance we find a way to get to consensus on a stablecoin bill this year.”

The “stablecoin bill” seemingly refers to draft legislation aimed at “endogenously collateralized stablecoins” which came to light this week — and would place a two-year ban on new algorithmic stablecoins such as TerraUSD Classic (USTC).

However, Davidson went on to say that while “there’s a chance we get to yes on stablecoins this year,” it’s something that can be achieved by the first quarter of 2023.

“If we don’t, it’s something that I think we can get to with a Republican majority in Q1 next year,” he said.

Davidson is widely seen as crypto-friendly and has previously introduced the “Keep Your Coins” bill which aimed to protect self-custodied crypto wallets from U.S. government control.

A number of bills aimed at regulating stablecoins have been introduced in the U.S., such as the one that was introduced on Feb. 15 this year by U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Rohit Chopra, also reportedly spoke at the event and believes that stablecoins have the potential for widespread adoption, noting:

A stablecoin, riding the rails of a dominant payments system or a mobile OS, I think that could create ubiquity very quickly.

Chopra added that if stablecoins do see this kind of rapid adoption, they could have a serious impact on global financial stability.

Related: 3AC founders reveal ties to Terra founder, blame overconfidence for collapse

The CFPB director also suggested that Washington may be neglecting other areas of fintech development due to its intense focus on crypto in recent months.

The forum was attended by financial giants such as Bank of America, Visa and Mastercard and was reportedly aimed at fostering discussion between executives and policymakers as to how they can work together to ensure developing technologies help businesses, consumers and the economy.

The current draft bill for stablecoins is being negotiated between House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters and the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Stablecoin bill has ‘outside chance’ of finalizing this year — Rep. Warren Davidson

Earlier this week, new draft legislation on stablecoins came to light aimed at “endogenously collateralized stablecoins.”

There is a small chance that the United States House of Representatives could pass the bill to regulate stablecoins by year-end, though it’s more likely it will pass in the first quarter of 2023, says U.S. Congressman Warren Davidson. 

According to a Thursday report from Kitco, Davidson made the remarks at the Annual Fintech Policy Forum on Thursday, where he suggested:

“There’s an outside chance we find a way to get to consensus on a stablecoin bill this year.”

The “stablecoin bill” seemingly refers to draft legislation aimed at “endogenously collateralized stablecoins,” which came to light this week — and would place a two-year ban on new algorithmic stablecoins such as TerraUSD Classic (USTC).

However, Davidson went on to say that while “there’s a chance we get to yes on stablecoins this year,” it’s something that can be achieved by the first quarter of 2023.

“If we don’t, it’s something that I think we can get to with a Republican majority in Q1 next year,” he said.

Davidson is widely seen as crypto-friendly and has previously introduced the Keep Your Coins bill, which aimed to protect self-custodied crypto wallets from U.S. government control.

A number of bills aimed at regulating stablecoins have been introduced in the U.S., such as the one that was introduced on Feb. 15 this year by U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Rohit Chopra, also reportedly spoke at the event and believes that stablecoins have the potential for widespread adoption, noting:

“A stablecoin, riding the rails of a dominant payments system or a mobile OS, I think that could create ubiquity very quickly.”

Chopra added that if stablecoins do see this kind of rapid adoption, they could have a serious impact on global financial stability.

Related: 3AC founders reveal ties to Terra founder, blame overconfidence for collapse

The CFPB director also suggested that Washington may be neglecting other areas of fintech development due to its intense focus on crypto in recent months.

The forum was attended by financial giants such as Bank of America, Visa and Mastercard and was reportedly aimed at fostering discussion between executives and policymakers as to how they can work together to ensure developing technologies help businesses, consumers and the economy.

The current draft bill for stablecoins is being negotiated between House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters and the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Binance and Mastercard will launch prepaid crypto cards in Argentina

“Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow,” said Maximiliano Hinz.

Major crypto exchange Binance has partnered with Mastercard to launch a prepaid card for the residents of Argentina.

In a Thursday announcement, Binance said the card will allow its clients in Argentina to use Bitcoin (BTC), BNB and other cryptocurrencies to make purchases as well as ATM withdrawals in fiat wherever Mastercard is accepted — roughly 90 million merchants globally and online. Argentine cardholders can also earn up to 8% back in cryptocurrency from certain purchases.

According to Binance, the introduction of the card — expected to be “widely available in the coming weeks” — was part of the company’s efforts to further the global adoption of crypto. Residents of Argentina will be the first in the region to have access to the cards, but the crypto exchange announced a similar initiative for Binance users in Ukraine in April and for the European Economic Area in 2020.

“Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow,” said Maximiliano Hinz, general director of Binance in Latin America. “By using the Binance Card, merchants continue to receive fiat and the users pay in cryptocurrency they choose.”

The card requires Argentines to have a valid national identity card or documento nacional de identidad. Similar requirements are already in place for credit cards issued by local crypto exchanges. In 2021, Lemon Card launched a card with Visa offering 2% back in BTC for Argentine users while Buenbit and Belo both partnered with Mastercard to release a prepaid card and a crypto rewards card, respectively.

Related: Argentina carries out crypto wallet seizures linked to tax delinquents

Despite the recent market downturn, reports suggest that many Argentines may still be turning to crypto. According to an Americas Market Intelligence report from April, researchers found that “crypto penetration” in Argentina had reached 12% — roughly double that of Peru and Mexico.

Mastercard to allow 2.9B cardholders to make direct NFT purchases

Card payments for NFTs were first announced in association with Coinbase’s latest NFT marketplace in January.

International payment processing giant Mastercard is expanding its payment network for nonfungible token (NFT) markets and Web3.

The financial service provider announced that it has been working on expanding their payment networks to NFTs over the past year. The firm has partnered with a number of leading NFT marketplaces to allow 2.9 billion cardholders to directly make NFT purchases without buying crypto first.

Currently, users need to buy crypto to bid on and buy NFTs. However, with the latest Mastercard partnership, billions of cardholders can now bypass the process of buying a transferring crypto to NFT marketplaces. The firm said:

“These integrations are designed to make crypto more accessible and help the NFT ecosystem keep growing, innovating and bringing in more fans.”

Mastercard stated that it has partnered with multiple NFT marketplaces namely Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox (SAND), Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay.

Related: Mastercard expands consulting with crypto-dedicated practices with 500 new hires

The NFT card-purchase service was first launched in January this year in a partnership with Coinbase, allowing users to usbuy NFTs directly by using credit cards.

The decision to expand its payment network to the rapidly growing NFT ecosystem was also based on the company’s latest survey of 35,000 respondents from 40 countries, which showed that 45% of the consumers have either bought an NFT or are considering doing so. Fifty percent of the surveyed consumers also showed interest in getting more flexible options to make purchases.

The firm claimed they are also working on offering world-class security to customers with its latest payment option, similar to “when making transactions in a store or online with a Mastercard card.”

The payment processing giant has shown keen interest in the crypto and NFT markets over the past couple of years. Earlier in April this year, Mastercard filed for 15 metaverse and NFT-related trademarks.

The top two mainstream payment processing companies, Visa and Mastercard, have come a long way from their early days of blocking crypto transactions on their network, and are currently competing to become leading financial services providers in the decentralized space. Visa launched an immersion program back in March to allow creators to build their business with NFTs

Edge announces confidential no-KYC digital currency Mastercard

The company said there will be a $1,000 daily spending limit, but no personal information is required.

On Wednesday, self-custody crypto exchange Edge announced a no-Know Your Customer (KYC) debit Mastercard that can be funded with Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Without KYC verification, users would be able to spend their crypto at more than 10 million merchant terminals in the United States. Currently, one can fund the Edge Mastercard using Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH) directly from the Edge app.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, representatives at Edge say that the card is compliant with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regulations because of a $1,000 daily spending limit on the card (approx. $30,000 monthly). In addition, the card is only available for use at U.S. merchant terminals. Paul Puey, a co-founder of Edge, commented:

“Without compromising any personal info, and without the usual fees or delays to top up their card, the Edge Mastercard is a true breakthrough for using crypto for day-to-day payments.”

Because there is no address associated with the card, users can simply enter any name and address for billing purposes when shopping online.

In addition to its confidentiality, Edge claimed that there are no fees charged on its new Mastercard. When users sell their BTC to add funds, the company uses spot exchange rates from third-party sites such as Coinmarketcap with no margin taken.

The Edge Mastercard will be issued by Patriot Bank, N.A., under license by Mastercard International, and powered by fintech company Ionia. Edge says that it has over 1.7 million accounts across 179 countries on its self-custody cryptocurrency trading platform.