Credit card company Mastercard has announced that it has inked a deal with Coinbase, among a flurry of other partnerships between payment and cryptocurrency giants, according to media reports. The agreement is aimed at allowing non-crypto natives to get into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) without using a wallet. The partnership also seeks to build a decentralized marketplace where users can mint, collect and trade NFTs.
In a blogpost, Mastercard executive vice president of digital asset and blockchain products Raj Dhamodharan mentioned that under the agreement, NFTs would be considered digital goods and could be purchased using a credit card.
Dhamodharan told the media, “Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are used to this process. But for most people, it’s not simple, it’s not intuitive. We think it should be much easier. That will ensure NFTs can be for everyone. Getting more people involved safely and securely is perhaps the best way to help the NFT market thrive.”
Since Coinbase first announced its NFT marketplace, under the name of Coinbase NFT, since October, more than one million people have signed up for it and are currently on the waiting list. The crypto exchange plans to make the NFT platform available to US users before opening up to users in other countries.
After the growth and the rising interest of the NFT sector in 2021, major crypto exchanges FTX and Binance launched their own NFT marketplaces before Coinbase’s October announcement. Last year in June, Binance launched an NFT platform that planned on providing the highest liquidity and cheapest fees for users.