Mastercard New Features: Digital Wallets And Loyalty Rewards

Mastercard’s partners can now enable their customers to purchase, sell and hold cryptocurrency using their digital wallet and reward them with digital currencies under loyalty programs, Mastercard said on Monday.

Mastercard said its partners could also allow customers to earn and spend rewards in cryptocurrency instead of loyalty points.

In February, the business announced that it would begin supporting various cryptocurrencies on its network this year.

Mastercard would offer these services in partnership with Bakkt Holdings Inc, the digital assets platform founded by NYSE-owner Intercontinental Exchange.

Founded in 2018, Bakkt went public earlier this year through a $2.1 billion (€1.8 million) merger with a blank-check company. Shares of the company were up 77 percent at $16.19 (€14) on Monday.

“We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to whatever it is they’re doing,” Sherri Haymond, Mastercard’s executive vice president of digital partnerships, said in an interview.

“Our partners, be they banks, fintechs, or merchants, can offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency through an integration with the Baktt platform.”