Binance teams up with Mastercard to roll out pre-paid crypto card
In partnership with Mastercard, crypto giant Binance is launching its pre-paid card offering cryptocurrency “rewards” on customers’ purchases.
The alliance will see Binance roll out its crypto debit card in Argentina, the first country in Latin America to have the product thanks to a partnership with the payment giant. The Binance Card was issued by Credencial Payments and allows users in the region with a valid national identity document to make purchases and pay bills with cryptocurrencies.
The new offering provides clients with a simple way to acquire cryptocurrencies without having to pay fees or navigate the sometimes complicated onboarding processes at exchanges. The card also offers other benefits such as access to exclusive offers with select merchants and comes with no annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
Binance debit card works just the same as any other bank card, except it isn’t linked to a mobile banking app, but a crypto wallet.
Binance lets clients top-up their card with funds through the Binance Card App and then convert their crypto holdings to fiat within seconds, which can be spent at over 90 million Mastercard merchants worldwide. As such, the card doesn’t directly connect to the platform’s customer account.
Binance card holders can earn up to 8% in crypto cashback on eligible purchases and enjoy zero fees on ATM withdrawals. Clients can pre-select the digital wallet they want to debit when they fund the card balance. The latter can currently hold only two digital currencies, namely Bitcoin and Binance’s native token BNB.
Whenever a cardholder makes a payment, Binance Card instantly converts the cryptocurrencies into other fiat currencies and automatically deducts all expenses and commissions, which yet to be disclosed.
“We can unlock the full potential of blockchain technology when we make it easier to access + easier to use. One way we do that is by bringing crypto to everyday purchases. To make that a reality, we’re working with Binance to let people to use their crypto to make purchases at 90m+ stores that accept Mastercard,” said Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach in a LinkedIn post.
Specially issued crypto cards are becoming the norm that is quite popular since they allow users to cash out their digital assets and spend them at thousands of credit card-accepting merchants worldwide. These cards resolve one of the greatest drawbacks of cryptocurrencies, which is the inability to use them in everyday life with the same ease as traditional currencies.
Latin America ranks fifth in the world for cryptocurrency adoption and consistently captures between 8% and 10% of global cryptocurrency activity. The region saw a ten-fold increase in the use of cryptocurrencies over the last two years. Leading the way are Venezuela and Argentina, ranking seventh and tenth, respectively, in the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index published by Chainalysis.
