Merchants on MasterCard may have the option to get their payments in digital currency. It is the payment-giant firm’s newest feature that will be introduced this year. This will be the first time for the giant financial firm. It will have its customers take care of their payments in the digital currency, but only with participating merchants. But the company has not yet opened up about which cryptocurrencies it is ready to support for its new payment technique and medium.
Michael Miebach, the Chief Executive Officer of MasterCard, had made an announcement regarding this back for the fourth quarter of the firm. They were looking for, he said, integrating the digital currency “directly” on their network. The new CEO, in a call for the first earnings, said back on 28th January. He also spoke about how this will provide maximum flexibility to their users, but several merchants alike. But sources have been saying that there is no surety that one of the cryptocurrencies that MasterCard will support is Bitcoin. But the largest and oldest cryptocurrency in the world proceeds with a trading mantra of purchase and hold.
MasterCard’s History With Cryptocurrency
MasterCard previously supported minimal transactions of cryptocurrency under its partners in cryptocards. These are Uphold & Wirex. Although these two methods are purely for payment purposes, not for settlements. It means these coins are first turned into fiat currencies and then reach the payee (merchant).
This initiative is to promote the movement of digital currency that breaks the old bounds of what the fiat ecosystem does. But it also is based on an assumption that their subscribers want to spend their cryptocurrency or have enough to spend. The Executive VP for Digital Asset Products & Blockchain, Raj Dhamodharan, said that the first beneficiary of this new scheme would be stablecoins.
