Crypto holders in Europe will now be able to spend their assets almost anywhere thanks to a new payment card from Mastercard and Mercuryo.
Spending Your Crypto Anywhere
Per the announcement, the new payment card enables crypto payments with over 90 million merchants connected to Mastercard’s network and features seamless integrations with both Apple Pay and Google Pay. According to Mercuryo, leading web3 wallets will soon offer Spend cards within their interface, allowing users to top up with crypto and spend fiat worldwide.
Mastercard’s Crypto Foray
Mastercard has previously introduced payment cards allowing users to spend their crypto with regular merchants, but they usually require partnerships with centralized exchanges. However, Mercuryo's new card provides a fast, cost-effective, and globally accepted way to convert crypto to fiat directly from users' own wallets. It’s compatible with multiple blockchain ecosystems including Ethereum, Solana, Injective, Near, ZKSync, Polkadot, and TON.
Opportunities and Prospects
Users can maintain separate balances between their wallet and Spend card. The latter can be immediately topped up by selling crypto from the personal wallet, which gets instantly converted into cash. By contrast, traditional off-ramping methods usually take 1 to 2 business days before a users’ funds appear in their bank account. The product is currently available in the European Economic Area (EEA) with plans for a global roll-out eventually. Among new developments from Mastercard are also a card launched with the Metamask mobile wallet and the Crypto Credential service, simplifying cross-border transfers using crypto.
Mastercard continues to innovate in the field of crypto payments, providing new convenient solutions for users.
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