Mastercard has formed partnerships with digital asset service companies Amber Group, Bitkub and CoinJar in order to allow consumers and businesses across Asia Pacific to obtain crypto-linked Mastercard credit, debit and prepaid cards, the company said in a statement Monday.

• Cardholders can now instantly convert their cryptocurrencies into a traditional fiat currency that can be spent everywhere that Mastercard is accepted.
• Mastercard’s partners for this initiative are the first Asia Pacific-based cryptocurrency platforms to join Mastecard’s global Crypto Card Program, according to the statement.
• Some 45% of those surveyed in Asia Pacific said they are likely to consider using cryptocurrency in the next year, and 12% said they used crypto in the last year, according to the latest Mastercard New Payments Index.
• Mastercard said in late October it was working with digital asset platform Bakkt to allow merchants and banks in the U.S. to build cryptocurrency into their offerings.