Mastercard and Mercuryo, in partnership, have launched a crypto debit card named ‘Spend’ for customers in Europe. Users can directly pay over 100 million merchants from their non-custodial wallets. The card has been designed to keep flexibility, allowing customers to pay with more than 40 different cryptocurrencies.
Mastercard, a global titan in the finance ecosystem, welcomed cryptocurrencies as part of their product offerings in 2021. This is a massive win for crypto enthusiasts as cryptocurrencies are slowly entering the fiat-based financial landscape.
With the launch of this new Euro debit card, people can interact with cryptocurrencies in a whole new way. This historic move will allow users to see cryptocurrencies beyond just an investment and enable more adoption.
Christian RauSenior, the VP of Crypto at Mastercard, said, “At Mastercard, we are working closely with partners to innovate and enhance the self-custody wallet experience. Through our collaboration with Mercuryo, we’re eliminating the traditional barriers between blockchain and conventional payments, providing consumers who want to spend their digital assets with an easy, reliable, and secure way to do so, anywhere Mastercard is accepted.”
“We are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value — traditional or crypto — however they want. It should be your choice, it’s your money.”Raj Dhamodharan, Global Head of Crypto and Blockchain.
Mercuryo, a fintech company working in the Web3 domain, will allow users to change their currency from fiat to crypto and vice versa. A Mercuryo spokesperson said, “Spend is currently available to users in the European Economic Area (EEA), and Mercuryo plans to roll out Spend across other regions globally.”
Spend is compatible with all well-known blockchains, such as Solana, Injective, Ethereum, Near, TON, Polkadot, and ZKSync. When using the debit card, users do not have to rely on P2P services or banks and can use their self-custodial wallets for all transactions. Users can also use the card’s facilities with Google Pay and Apple Pay.