TL; DR Breakdown

• MasterCard is partnering with Bakkt to bring crypto transactions to its network. The project targets the latter’s over 20K agents.
• While MasterCard provides the network, Baakkt will be the custodian of the crypto assets. The venture could alter how Americans transact in cryptos.

Multinational payments company MasterCard is pursuing plans of supporting cryptocurrencies on its platform. 

Mastercard is partnering with Bakkt, a leading cryptocurrency exchange in the project. Once complete, the project will enable over 20 thousand Mastercard agents to support crypto transactions.

The arrangement will see the firm’s agents unify their products with cryptos. They can merge their offerings with BTC wallets, for instance. 

Additionally, they may offer both debit and credit cards supporting crypto payments. Finally, the vendors may host loyalty programs where they reward customers with BTC.

Further, Bakkt will be the custodian for the digital assets. On its part, MasterCard will provide a network of vendors.

MasterCard to streamline crypto onboarding

Commenting on the development, MasterCard’s Sherri Haymond said they intend to ease their partners’ onboarding of cryptos. 

She insisted that Mastercard commits to providing a variety of payment solutions. These solutions are rich both in value and impact.

The partnership will allow the firm’s partners to offer their clients crypto trading and hodling services. All that thanks to their linking with the Bakkt platform.

MasterCard’s announcement could see a shift in how Americans trade in BTC and other digital assets. 

Today, the firm has cut a niche for itself in the international payments space. And It claims to have over 20 thousand vendors on its books. That’s excluding its over 2.8 billion active payments cards.

There’s been a growing interest in BTCthis year. The premier crypto has risen in value, reaching an all-time high above the $60,000 mark. Recently, The SEC okayed the listing of a futures ETF fund.

Haymond says this piling interest has made Mastercard’s clients seek its help in adopting cryptos. This adoption, in turn, helps financial institutions lock in their clients. Thus it prevents the migration of funds to exchanges.

More than wallets and cards

The partnership seeks more than extending crypto wallets and payment cards to the banks. It’ll also enable businesses to start rewarding their customers in BTC rather than traditional points.

And it’s an arrangement that’s got Bakkt’s chief executive Gavin Michael buzzing. He says holders of existing reward points can convert them into crypto instead. The conversions will follow rates set by the companies involved.

Further, he held that they were reducing the roadblocks to entry. They were doing this by allowing people to convert their points to cryptos. 

Users will gain from this action as they don’t use cash for the conversion. Again, they’ll be utilizing their idle assets gainfully.

Bakkt’s shares appreciated by over 70 percent following the news. The pair will officially announce the partnership formally on Monday. The announcement will be at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas.

The firm recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange.