Binance Partners With Mastercard to Launch Prepaid Cards in Argentina
- Binance plans to promote the use of cryptocurrencies for payments.
As inflation continues to hit hard in Argentina, crypto trading platform Binance has announced a partnership with Mastercard to launch prepaid cards for locals in the country. According to a press release, the crypto cards would bridge the gap between crypto and fiat and would be used for daily purchases.
In addition to being able to use a wide range of cryptocurrencies such as BNB and BTC, residents in the Latin American country can also make withdrawals in fiat wherever Mastercard is accepted. Additionally, cardholders in Argentina can receive up to 8% in cryptocurrency rewards from specific purchases.
Reacting to the news, Maximiliano Hinz, general director of Binance in Latin America, said,
Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow. By using the Binance Card, merchants continue to receive fiat and the users pay in cryptocurrency they choose.
As per the release, the prepaid cards are still in their beta phase and will be available in the coming weeks. According to Binance, these prepaid cards are part of its efforts to promote the use of cryptocurrencies worldwide. In April 2020, Binance announced a similar initiative for Binance users in Ukraine and the European Economic Area. However, Argentina would be the first country to have this product in its region.
To be deemed eligible for the card, Argentinians must possess a current documento nacional de identidad, or national identity card. Users must also have completed Binance’s Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Similar specifications currently apply to credit cards provided by regional cryptocurrency exchanges.
The prepaid cards will enable Argentineans to spend their digital assets at more than 90 million Mastercard-affiliated businesses worldwide. The payment solution will efficiently convert digital assets to fiat currency in real-time upon checkout, making cryptocurrency payments with the card effortless.
Reacting to the partnership with Binance, Walter Pimenta, Executive Vice President, Products and Innovation, at Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean, said,
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.
Binance also announced that it would allow users in Argentina to manage their cards through their Binance App and website. This way, each user will have access to details such as their transaction history and other activities.
Binance plans to include support for more cryptocurrencies in the coming months and expand into new markets. The crypto exchange might possibly expand this offering to other countries in the region. Crypto adoption has been on the rise in Latin American countries due to inflation and political unrest.
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