Mastercard, the payments giant, is partnering with several NFT marketplaces in order to make it easier to purchase digital art. Mastercard announced it is partnering with several non-fungible token ( NFT ) marketplaces in order to “bring his payments network to Web3,” making NFTs purchase possible with its debit and credit card.
A blog article states that the NFT marketplaces that are partnering with Mastercard are Immutable X and Candy Digital, The Sandbox (Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway), as well as Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay. Users will be able to buy NFTs more easily and safely by using their cards instead of crypto to complete the transaction.
Mastercard reports that these marketplaces combined “generated more than $25 Billion in sales in 2021 – from art to sports and video games to collectibles, to metaverse platforms”
Raj Dhamodharan (Executive Vice President, Digital Asset Blockchain Products & Partnerships, Mastercard) stated that they are working with these companies in order to enable people to use their Mastercard card for NFTs purchases.
Dhamodharan says that with the 2.9 billion Mastercards issued globally, this change could have a significant impact on NFT ecosystem.
Users have more flexibility
Mastercard also claimed that the addition of support for direct NFT purchase will allow them to deliver exactly what customers want.
Financial service provider mentioned its recent survey of over 35,000 people in 40 different countries. It found that up to 45% of respondents have already purchased an NFT or are considering doing so.
A majority of respondents also supported more flexible payment options. The majority of respondents favored cryptocurrencies being used for daily purchases and the ability to use their debit or credit card to purchase NFTs. These findings are similar to those of the Deloitte survey which found that over 85% of respondents give cryptocurrency payment a high or very high priority.
Mastercard isn’t the only company to partner with NFT marketplaces. In May, Mastercard announced a partnership for Coinbase that aimed to simplify the buying process on the Coinbase NFT website .
Mastercard announced in February that it had added payment-focused consulting services to banks and merchants. These services cover everything, from cryptocurrencies and NFTs to loyalty programs and crypto cards.
