Mastercard Strikes Crypto Deal with Bakkt

In a recent announcement, Mastercard which is one of the world’s biggest financial service providers revealed that it has partnered with Bakkt, a popular digital assets platform. Thanks to the arrangement, thousands of Mastercard’s banks and merchants will now have the chance to integrate cryptocurrencies into all their products. Giving Mastercard’s partners the ability to offer crypto solutions is set to significantly boost the already rapidly-expanding crypto ecosystem.

Speaking on the development, Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships at Mastercard mentioned that the move aligns with the company’s goals. With Bakkt on board, they intend to apply their innovative approach to ” power our partners to offer a dynamic mix of digital assets options” and “also deliver differentiated and relevant consumer experiences.”

How Will This Work?

Consumers in the United States will have the chance to buy, sell and hold digital assets like cryptocurrencies. Enabling this will be the highly-acclaimed custodial wallets that are the backbone of Bakkt’s fast-rising crypto business. At the outlets where MasterCard is accepted, the users will have their digital assets exchanged for fiat to complete the transactions.

As if that is not enough, Mastercard’s loyalty solutions will also apply to the digital asset payments that its users will make. This applies to both Mastercard credit and debit cards. Rewards from the loyalty programs will even be converted to crypto in some cases. Merchants will no longer have to stick to redeemable loyalty points. Instead, they can just offer rewards to their customers in the form of crypto.

What Could This Mean for Online Gambling?

Online casinos form one of the biggest industries that depend on payment service providers such as Mastercard. Many modern-day online casinos have also started integrating digital currencies on their platforms. This is, of course, a very important step forward for the sector.

To begin with, it means that casinos that had not switched to using digital currencies may now have the chance to be a part of the revolution. It will certainly take some time but we are already off to a great start.

Secondly, this is a great way of increasing mainstream adoption of digital assets. Several great online casinos accept crypto payments. However, lots of people are still holding out. With the backing of yet another huge player in the financial sector, mainstream adoption of crypto just got yet another big boost. It will be like having the best of both worlds, that is, a popular payment service and what is considered to be the future of global finance – crypto.