Mastercard to allow its clients to purchase NFT for fiat currency

International payment system Mastercard has announced that its clients will be able to purchase non-fungible tokens (NFT) for fiat currency. The company has entered into an agreement with several leading NFT marketplaces to allow its customers to directly make NFT purchases.

Mastercard representatives said that this innovation will make crypto more accessible and will contribute to the development of the industry of art tokens.

The payment system began a partnership with NFT platforms namely Candy Digital, Maintable, Immutable X, Nifty Gateway, Spring and The Sandbox, as well as with Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay.

Mastercard is currently working on security features for users so that even an inexperienced customer can get into the mechanism of NFT purchase for fiat currency without buying crypto first.

Raj Damodaran, the vice president of the company, noted that there are more than 2.9 million Mastercard cardholders worldwide, so this innovation can significantly affect the NFT ecosystem.

The function of buying NFTs for fiat cash was first launched in January, when the crypto exchange Coinbase and Mastercard announced their cooperation in order to simplify the purchase of NFTs. NFT Coinbase, the NFT marketplace, was launched in April. According to representatives of the companies, the new service will make the purchase of NFTs as simple as the acquisition of ordinary things in online shops.

Mastercard has also conducted a survey which showed that users are interested in collectible tokens. 45% of the surveyed consumers replied that they have already purchased NFT or are going to do it soon. Another 50% of respondents would like to get simpler ways to purchase art tokens.

The payment system also announced the launch of crypto-linked cards in Asian markets.

In general, Mastercard supports digital currencies and has created a project to support crypto startups.