In a bid to expand access to the Non-Fungible Tokens market, MasterCard has announced crypto partners for NFT-enabled payments.
The announcement was made via a blog post published on the 9th of June. An executive vice president at MasterCard, Raj Dhamodharan, revealed to the public in a blog post that the company partnered with Mintable, The Sandbox, Spring, Immutable X, Nifty Gateway, MoonPay, and Candy Digital.
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He said,
"We're working with these companies to allow people to use their Mastercard cards for NFTs purchases, whether that's on one of these companies' marketplaces or using their crypto services. With 2.9 billion Mastercard cards worldwide, this change could greatly impact the NFT ecosystem."
According to MasterCard, a large chunk of the NFT space is represented by the NFT marketplaces. Likewise, the NFT marketplaces in 2021 sales generated more than $25 billion in categories such as collectibles, sports, arts, and video games. Also, the crypto partners will aid the expansion of the company's adoption of Web3.
To purchase NFT on a crypto platform like Opensea, you will be required to find your crypto wallet. Also, you'll be required to pay using tokens like SOL or ETH. However, with MasterCard, paying for NFTs is about to change.
MasterCard recently launched an NFT platform and has worked closely with Coinbase, and both companies collaborate to enable cash payments on the MasterCard NFT platform. Similarly, after purchasing a CryptoPunk towards the end of 2021, Visa has been eyeing the NFT market. Also, MoonPay has been offering its partners NFTs payment service since the year began.
Furthermore, Dhamodharan shared in the blog post that MasterCard carried out a recent survey and 35,000 people from 40 different countries participated in the survey. He added that the survey result showed that about 45% of respondents would consider buying an NFT or have bought an NFT. Also, the survey revealed that around 50% of respondents desired more flexibility in making payments for NFTs.
He said,
"Overall, these integrations are designed to make crypto more accessible and help the NFT ecosystem keep growing, innovating, and bringing in more fans."
Also, to reinforce customer safety when buying NFT with your card, MasterCard will be making use of the cyber security tools it employs when using your card for making purchases. Therefore, for first-timers and beginners, buying NFTs using their cards is safer and less susceptible to fraudulent activities.
"We're also applying our full suite of capabilities to reinforce customer safety, giving people similar protections to those they enjoy when making transactions in a store or online with a Mastercard card. We're using our cybersecurity tools to boost safety and protect user data for purchases people make using a Mastercard card."