Crypto holders in Europe will now be able to spend their crypto almost anywhere from the safety of their self-custodial wallets thanks to a new payment card from Mastercard.
Mercuryo, a fintech platform for web3 firms, announced its collaboration with the payments provider on Thursday to launch âSpendâ â a multi-chain crypto card and Mastercard that acts like a debit card.
Spending Your Crypto Anywhere
Per the announcement, the payments card enables crypto payments with over 90 million merchants connected to Mastercardâs network, and features seamless integrations with both Apple Pay and Google Pay.
âLeading web3 wallets will soon offer Spend cards within their interface, allowing users to top up with crypto and spend fiat worldwide,â Mercuryo said.
Mastercard has already introduced payment cards allowing users to spend their crypto with regular merchants, but they usually require partnerships with centralized exchanges to work. This meant that crypto held by users was trusted with centralized institutions, defeating the purpose for which Bitcoin was initially built.
By contrast, Mercuryo says its new card provides a âfast, cost-effective, and globally accepted âway to convert crypto to fiat directly from their own wallets. Itâs compatible with multiple blockchain ecosystems including Ethereum, Solana, Injective, Near, ZKSync, Polkadot, and TON.
Users can maintain separate balances between their wallet and spend card. The latter can be immediately topped up by selling crypto from the personal wallet, which gets instantly converted into cash. By contrast, traditional âoff-rampingâ methods usually take 1 to 2 business days, before a usersâ funds appear in their bank account.
âWe are actively working to expand our network and expect to add more wallet partnerships soon,â Mercuryo said.
Mastercardâs Crypto Foray
Spend is currently available European Economic Area (EEA), though it will be later rolled out to regions globally.
Last month, Ethereum mobile wallet Metamask also launched a debit card with Mastercard, enabling users to use Bitcoin and other assets to buy things at popular stores.
In June, Mastercard also introduce âCrypto Credential,â allowing users of select crypto exchanges in Europe and Latin America to conduct cross-border transfers using easy-to-remember aliases instead of blockchain addresses.
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