Mastercard is expanding its support for non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets through a new collaboration with European payments provider Mercuryo.
The alliance introduces a euro-denominated debit card, allowing users to spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin stored in self-custodial wallets at over 100 million Mastercard merchants.
The initiative follows a recent pilot with MetaMask, a major self-custodial wallet, and aligns with Mastercard’s efforts to promote self-custody in crypto. Self-custodial wallets require users to manage their private keys, providing direct control over their digital assets without relying on centralized platforms like banks or exchanges.
Christian Rau, Mastercard’s senior vice president for crypto and fintech enablement, stated that the partnership with Mercuryo bridges the gap between blockchain and traditional payments, offering consumers a secure way to use their digital assets globally.
Mastercard has been expanding its presence in the crypto market since 2021, forming partnerships with companies like Circle and Coinbase to integrate digital currencies into its payment network.
The collaboration with Mercuryo represents another step in Mastercard’s strategy to support crypto adoption while addressing complexities associated with crypto transactions on centralized exchanges.
The new Mastercard-branded Spend card, introduced by Mercuryo, comes with fees, including a €1.60 issuance fee, a €1 monthly maintenance fee, and a 0.95% off-ramp fee.
Elsewhere, Mastercard is set to introduce a peer-to-peer platform for cryptocurrency users across Europe and Latin America, named the Mastercard Crypto Credential network.
The P2P network allows users to use Mastercard Crypto Credential aliases for transactions. These aliases function as vanity addresses, similar to the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) on the Ethereum network. This setup simplifies the process by replacing the traditional long string of wallet addresses with more user-friendly labels.
Mastercard’s crypto feature is expected to streamline cross-border payments, particularly in the remittances sector, which saw an estimated $831 billion in global remittances in 2022, up from $717 billion in 2020.
The pilot program includes Mastercard’s partners Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado Bitcoin, and wallet provider FoxBit. By assigning human-readable aliases verified by Mastercard, the program helps reduce user error and mitigate financial loss by pre-screening transactions to ensure compatibility of crypto assets with the recipient’s address.
Earlier in March, Mastercard teamed up with Nexi, a payment technology company in Europe, to bring open banking payment options to shoppers across Europe.
Open banking is a modern payment method that lets people use their existing bank account to pay online quickly. Instead of the usual way of paying, where you might enter your card details, open banking uses the security measures you already have with your bank.
