Mastercard and crypto exchange Binance will end their ‘Binance card’ programs next month
Mastercard and well-known crypto exchange Binance will end their four crypto card programs next month, a spokesperson for Mastercard said via email on Thursday. Reuters broke the news that the two companies were canceling the agreement. The Binance Card in Argentina was introduced to “bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and everyday purchases.” That allowed users to buy things and pay bills with Bitcoin, among other cryptocurrencies, at more than 90 million merchants.
When the partnership was announced on August 05, many promises were made, like the card won’t charge any fees for withdrawals through ATMs, and users could withdraw up to 45,000 pesos ($339 at the current exchange rate) per day or a maximum of 180,000 pesos ($1357) per month. Binance’s card cashback (reward of up to 8%) was supposed to be a strong competitor against traditional banks as they offer a very low cashback percentage or charge high fees for ATM withdrawals.
Mastercard had shown interest in cryptocurrency adoption in Latin America, driven by research indicating that over half of the region’s population had some familiarity with digital assets. Hinz noted that the card aimed to promote increased cryptocurrency usage within the country, enabling merchants to receive traditional fiat currency while allowing users to make payments using a range of cryptocurrencies.
Payments stood out as one of the primary and most evident applications for cryptocurrencies, but adoption still had significant room for growth back then. When the Binance Card was employed, merchants would receive fiat money while users could pay using their preferred cryptocurrencies. The Binance Card was an important step in encouraging greater use of cryptocurrencies and their global adoption and is now available to users in Argentina.
Mastercard’s website features partnerships with crypto exchanges like Gemini. The spokesperson clarified that the move will not affect Mastercard’s other crypto card initiatives. U.S. regulators sued the crypto exchange and its CEO Changpeng Zhao in June for allegedly operating a “web of deception,” due to this growing regulatory attention, financial companies are ending associations with Binance and its U.S. branch, Binance.US.
The Mastercard spokesperson chose not to explain the reasons behind ending the Binance program or who made the decision. Binance should have promptly replied to an emailed request for comment. On Thursday, the exchange’s support account on X, previously known as Twitter, mentioned that the Binance Card “will no longer be available to users in Latin America and the Middle East.”
