That is, with Coinbase and Mastercard partnership you can buy an NFT right now with your Mastercard credit or debit card without having to acquire any cryptocurrency first.
Customers of Coinbase can now easily purchase and sell NFTs with fiat money on the forthcoming Coinbase-created NFT marketplace. It’s seen as a step forward in Visa and Mastercard’s long line of cryptocurrency transactions.
Within the partnership of Coinbase and Mastercard, customers of the excange can now buy NFTs using Mastercard credit or debit cards without having to purchase cryptocurrency first on the company’s new marketplace. The decision follows a slew of initiatives from Visa and Mastercard aimed at attracting cryptocurrency users, including an earlier initiative by Coinbase to enable in-house exchange between cryptocurrencies.
Through their official Medium channel, Coinbase said they’re excited to enable credit card purchases of NFTs directly on their upcoming marketplace, and that this is just the first of many features people can expect. As for Mastercard, they stated that they support cryptocurrencies in general and that allowing Credit/Debit cards will give customers much more flexibility than having to buy cryptocurrency first before buying NFTs.
Comments from Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong:
“We want to make it easier for customers to buy NFTs. Our partnership with Mastercard permits people to buy items instantly with credit cards. We’re excited about our upcoming NFT marketplace and this is just one of many new features we’ll be rolling out”
Comment from Mastercard representative:
“At present, Mastercard embraces the development and adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain. The simple answer is that cryptocurrencies can be used in a variety of ways today, however, allowing customers to pay in their currency using digital account IDs on their Mastercards gives them so much more flexibility than having to buy cryptocurrency first”
We’re working to make #NFTs more accessible because we believe tech should be inclusive. Excited to announce that we’re partnering with @coinbase to let people use their Mastercard cards to make purchases on Coinbase’s upcoming NFT marketplace. https://t.co/T6QpSIaKtK
— Mastercard News (@MastercardNews) January 18, 2022
Both Coinbase and Mastercard are fully behind this move – this is evident from both companies’ official channels. Brian Armstrong, CEO at Coinbase mentioned he wanted to make it easier for customers to purchase NFTs while a representative from Mastercard said they supported the growth and adoption of blockchain technologies while also mentioning how popular cryptos.
Not so long before of this Coinbase and Mastercard cooperation the exchange has launched Coinbase NFT, a peer-to-peer marketplace for creating, buying, displaying, and discovering NFTs. We’ll be able to provide a superior client experience on Coinbase NFT as a result of our collaboration with Mastercard, and we’ll endeavour to use Mastercard’s scale and global network to bring this opportunity to the rest of the ecosystem in the future. In the upcoming months, we’ll have additional information.
Coinbase also announced they will be releasing an NFT card, which can be used to access your crypto earnings with a tap of a button. According to the announcement,
“When you use it for goods and services you’ll get the best exchange rate on cryptocurrency with zero fees.”
Finally, Coinbase is planning to open up their shop called Crypto Cove that will let customers spend their cryptos directly on them when they become available later this year. The move is aimed at luring in even more customers who are looking for easy ways to buy NFTs using fiat currency. Now, these same people can spend some or all of their money on cryptos to buy it.
Coinbase says that they will still be keeping an eye on the market and might add more cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin cash or ethereum, in the future.
Coinbase is one of the world’s biggest crypto trading platforms while Mastercard is a credit card giant globally. The two companies announcing their “Coinbase and Mastercard” partnership to make buying NFTs easier using fiat currency (i.e., dollar) sent big waves through cryptocurrency and traditional industries alike. Almost every large exchange welcomed the move with open arms since it doesn’t only bring them people but also makes transactions much faster and safer for everyone involved.
No crypto? No problem – issue understood by Coinbase and Mastercard.
Many consumers want to purchase NFTs to be as simple as purchasing a t-shirt online. Currently, users must first create a crypto wallet, acquire bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, then use it to buy an NFT in an online market, which makes the procedure quite time-consuming.
The current method to buy NFT on Coinbase will be replaced with fiat, and the process is similar. With more than 2.5 million wait-listers for its NFT platform, Coinbase has cracked open the NFT market wide open. The market will see a major boost in demand as people who got left out start to join the NFT economy.
Why is the crypto-community excited about this partnership?
It would be interesting to see how other exchanges will incorporate such an option like Coinbase and Mastercard cooperation in the future. Also, such giant deals can become ordinary in the NFT marketplace moving onwards. People who start entering the industry now can expect such things as a matter of course.
A report from fintech news outlet Coindesk on July 16 states that Walmart Inc., one of the world’s largest retailers, is looking to sell its line of NFTs. In April, the IRS launched a cryptocurrency tax inspection initiative called Virtual Asset Recycling (VARA). So, such developments may also come under the regulatory hood. Buying NFT directly with fiat currencies poses several challenges as well. On the one hand, it has to be accepted as a payment method and on the other, there needs to be enough liquidity and markets to support such an option.
Finally, it can’t be said that Coinbase are not working towards strengthening its position in the cryptocurrency industry. The company has been exploring several ways of earning more profit from cryptos beyond simple trading activities over the past few months. Last month, Coinbase acquired decentralized exchange Distributed Systems Inc. to improve its service offerings and make them faster and easier for their customers. The NFT extension will also provide a new way for users who might want to invest in crypto assets but do not know how yet. Opposite this Coinbase and Mastercard partnershis this move could significantly increase Coinbase’s competition with traditional financial institutions like Mastercard.
It would be interesting to see how non-wallet holders engage in buying Coinbase’s NFT. For more such exciting news, please check here.
Image by Alina Kuptsova from Pixabay
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