Bitcoin’s big moment: Mastercard jumps on the bandwagon

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The company announced Wednesday night that it will support “certain cryptocurrencies” directly on its network at some point later this year.

“Our philosophy on cryptocurrency is simple: it’s about choice,” wrote Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Mastercard, in a message Wednesday night. “Mastercard isn’t here to recommend that you start using cryptocurrencies. But we’re here to empower customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value – traditional or crypto – as they see fit.”

Although Mastercard lacked details on how customers might use bitcoin, the company said it would work something like this: When someone wants to buy an item with cryptocurrency, Mastercard’s crypto partners convert the digital currency into traditional currency and then pass it on. on the Mastercard network.

This change “will allow many more traders to accept crypto” as well as “remove inefficiencies, allowing consumers and traders to avoid having to go back and forth between crypto and traditional to make trades. purchases, ”Mastercard said.

It’s a major milestone for bitcoin, which is slowly permeating Corporate America after years of skepticism.
Bitcoin climbed to an all-time high above $ 44,800 on Monday after You’re here (TSLA) said he would soon accept bitcoin as payment for his vehicles, and revealed that he purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin as part of his cash holdings. Digital payment giants Square (SQ) and Pay Pal (PYPL) recently started allowing users to trade bitcoin.

But Mastercard will be Bitcoin’s most popular and important platform to date.

And Wednesday’s news fueled the recent rally in Bitcoin (XBT), sending it up 3% in trading early Thursday, hitting a record earlier today. Bitcoin gained around 300% last year.

Mastercard customers are already using its cards “to buy crypto assets, especially during the recent surge in bitcoin’s value,” the company said in its statement. The company said that not all cryptocurrencies would be included and, while it did not specify that bitcoin would be one of those accepted, it was the only currency of its type Mastercard cited by name. .

“We are also seeing that users are increasingly taking advantage of crypto cards to access these assets and convert them into traditional currencies for their spending,” Mastercard added.

Meanwhile, BNY Mellon – America’s oldest bank, whose history dates back to Alexander Hamilton’s founding of the Bank of New York in 1784 – announced on Thursday that it has formed a “digital assets” unit that will help customers meet needs. linked to the growth of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, at an unspecified time later this year.

Customer demand and clearer regulation “gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand our current service offerings into this emerging area,” said Roman Regelman, CEO of Mellon Asset Management and Head of Digital.

Bitcoin rally is not enough to dethrone the mighty dollar
In November, Rick Rieder, Director of Fixed Income Investments Black rock (BLK), one of the most powerful asset managers in the world, said he could see bitcoin replacing gold as an investment vehicle.
But others continue to question its value. Last month, Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Securities (BAC), called the recent Bitcoin rally “the mother of all bubbles”.

– Paul R. La Monica of CNN Business contributed to this report

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