MasterCard announced a partnership with a number of non-fungible tokens (NFT) exchanges to bring its payments network to Web3, enabling customers to purchase NFTs with their debit or credit cards. A recent report said that Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and Immutable X are some of the NFT platforms that will be collaborating with Mastercard.
This move has exactly what it takes to become a truly historic moment for the NFT industry, as moving from fiat to crypto has always been the barrier of entry for most of the conventional users. From soon and onwards though, this may just be resolved by one of the largest payment processing companies on the market.
Mastercard makes buying NFTs easy
In an online statement, MasterCard stated that it is working on making the process of buying NFTs safer and easier. The company believes that once it is done, the NFT space will be able to attract more users, and even those who have no idea how to use Web3 wallets. Millions of people around the world can now become potential customers due to these changes, the press release added.
For the last few years, the company has been focusing on innovation to make these improvements a reality. Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s Executive Vice President of Digital Asset Blockchain Products & Partnerships, said the company is collaborating with these companies to allow users to use Mastercard cards for NFT purchases, whether on one of these NFT marketplaces or serving as a fiat to crypto layer between the two fronts.
The outcome
According to Dhamodharan, there are 2.9 billion Mastercard cards worldwide, which will significantly affect the NFT ecosystem. In addition, MasterCard claims that by supporting direct NFT purchases, it is providing “exactly what users desire.”
Approximately 45 percent of respondents in a recent survey of 35,000 consumers across 40 countries indicated that they had purchased an NFT or were contemplating the purchase.
According to the survey, around half of those polled supported greater payment flexibility, such as using cryptocurrencies for routine transactions or using a credit or debit card for an NFT.
The findings of the study are in line with the findings of a Deloitte study, which revealed more than 85 percent of firms regard accepting cryptocurrency payments as a high or very high priority.
What are others doing?
The Visa NFT creator program was launched earlier this year to support independent NFT artists, as well as to assist small businesses to increase their revenue.
A new bull market for crypto and NFT might begin in the remainder of 2022 with two of the world’s top payment processing networks encouraging wider adoption.
As with retail transactions, Mastercard customers buying NFTs will have access to the same cybersecurity technologies, enhancements to client safety, and other capabilities used for retail transactions.
Mastercard, NFT and the industry
Mastercard describes the current initiatives as being aimed at building NFT communities and enhancing payment options for customers by leveraging the enormous potential of the NFT industry. The company is looking forward to working with all the aforementioned companies to make this market, even more, inviting, accessible, and simple.
