Cryptocurrency payment services have been evolving at a quick pace, with fiat payment service provider giants such as Mastercard, VISA, and PayPal now offering crypto services. These giants already have an established network throughout the world and can simply include crypto payment gateways to their existing network, making crypto adoption relatively simpler!
Moreover, cryptocurrency exchanges have also been working around the clock to simplify daily crypto payments using dApps and payment gateways for users. All of this effort is to ensure constant growth for the cryptocurrency ecosystem where users can use digital currencies similarly to fiat for daily transactions but with added advantages.
To that extent, Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, and Mastercard have partnered to launch crypto prepaid cards in Argentina.
Binance X Mastercard
Binance, on August 4th, announced its plans to partner with Mastercard, a multinational financial services company known for its credit cards, to develop a prepaid cryptocurrency card to be launched in Argentina.
According to the official statement, Argentina has become the first Latin American country with a Binance prepaid card which will be made readily available in the coming weeks. With the help of the cards, the partnership will also enable Argentina citizens to pay for bills and purchase items using cryptocurrencies at the global network of over 90 million merchants of Mastercard.
This prepaid card is the first of its type crypto card to be backed by a global exchange. However, Argentinians already have other card options provided to them by local cryptocurrency exchanges such as Lemon. The popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com also launched a similar product in Brazil.
The prepaid card by Binance, however, is paired with a variety of benefits. The most significant of these benefits is that the Binance Card can offer up to 8% cashback in BNB for specific purchases. Moreover, all the qualifying refunds from Binance will be credited back to the wallet immediately.
Another exciting feature to note is that Binance Card does not charge any ATM withdrawal fee, and the users can withdraw up to 45,000 pesos ( around $339) per day and a maximum of 180,000 pesos (around $1357) per month. For transactions, the daily limit is set at 90,000 pesos per day and 360,000 per month.
All of these advantages, along with the cashback offered by Binance, makes it an ideal choice among its competitors. Moreover, anyone with a Binance account living in Argentina can apply for the card.
How will this Card encourage Crypto Adoption in Argentina?
Crypto adoption in Argentina has been staggering with slow but constant growth. This move by Mastercard and Binance will surely be one of the factors that will cause explosive growth in the country. Mastercard is going big with its efforts for the crypto scene and is focusing on Latin America as it was observed that half of the region’s population is already familiar with crypto.
The general director of Binance in Latin America, Maximiliano Hinz, believes that the Binance Card will help in fostering greater use of crypto in Argentina by allowing merchants to receive fiat money and creating more opportunities for the buyer to pay.
Walter Pimenta, Executive Vice President of Products and Innovation at Mastercard Latin America and The Caribbean, said:
“Payments are one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, however, adoption has a lot of room to grow. When using the Binance Card, merchants still receive fiat and users pay in the cryptocurrency of their choice. We believe the Binance Card is an important step in encouraging greater use of cryptocurrencies and their global adoption and is now available to users in Argentina.”
Pimenta presented his gratitude for the partnership and believes Mastercard will help millions of users to begin their journey in cryptocurrencies with security and trustworthiness. He further added:
“Our work with digital currencies builds on our strong foundation to enable choice and peace of mind when people shop and pay. Together with our partners, Mastercard has been leading the payments industry in enabling entry to this exciting new world, helping bring millions of additional users into crypto and other digital assets in a safe and trusted manner.”
Presently, the users can pay with BNB, BUSD, BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, ADA, ADA, DOT, SOL, MANA, and SXP using the Binance Card.
Conclusion
The growth of cryptocurrencies is being observed throughout the world. However, some regions have been slow in adoption and need a nudge that Binance Card will provide. This move by Binance and Mastercard will prove elemental in boosting the growth of the crypto industry.