Mastercard Launches Crypto-to-Fiat Conversion Service

JAKARTA – Mastercard launched a crypto-connected payment service for the Asia-Pacific region. This is the result of collaborating with crypto services such as Amber Group, Bitkub in Thailand, and CoinJar in Australia. Later Mastercard users will be able to convert crypto assets into paper money.

“Instead of directly transferring cryptocurrencies to merchants, cardholders can now directly convert their cryptocurrencies into traditional fiat currencies that can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted worldwide, both online and offline,” wrote Mastercard.

However, Mastercard itself has not announced which cryptocurrencies are supported other than Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). These two crypto assets have already been accepted by the company. Mastercard has conducted research on the use of cryptocurrencies in Asia-Pacific. The research shows that around 45 percent of people choose to consider using cryptocurrencies in the coming year.

Various news about crypto has spread around the world quickly. Many people are getting interested in investing in crypto. However, the adoption of crypto for payments has been very slow.

Meanwhile, Mastercard has been putting its fingerprints all over the cryptocurrency market, perhaps in anticipation that digital assets will one day gain traction as a payment vector. Last month, the credit card giant announced plans to allow United States partners to offer crypto loyalty rewards.

By partnering with digital asset platform Bakkt, Mastercard said it plans to allow customers in the United States to buy, sell and hold crypto through a custodial wallet.