MasterCard to offer U.S based customers crypto loyalty rewards

The tech company revealed its plans in an October 25 announcement where it claimed to have partnered with digital asset platform Bakkt, to offer US-based financial institutions, fintech firms, and merchants on its payment network, a wide variety of digital assets options.

In other words, MasterCard customers based out in the United States, can now buy, sell and also hold digital assets in their wallets.

In addition to this, the partnership will also ensure that card holders can now earn rewards in crypto and spend same, as opposed to redeeming their loyalty points to make purchases.

Speaking about the development, the executive vice president for digital partnerships at MasterCard, Sherri Haymond says that apart from the new offering of digital asset integration, the company will also be delivering a unique and relevant consumer experiences.

Now, data revealed by a research carried out by Colloquy Loyalty Census in 2017,  shows U.S. consumers holding 3.8 billion memberships in loyalty programs, albeit these numbers have possibly changed since the financial situation that followed the pandemic.

MasterCard also reported that it had 249 million of its cards in the United States as at the end of first quarter of 2021. Therefore, there’s every tendency that these users of the loyalty rewards program, numbering millions, and who may have never had any prior knowledge or the use of cryptocurrencies now do. That is some massive exposure.

This is not the first time MasterCard is taking leadership steps as institutions continue to support crypto in their businesses.

Back in February, the financial services firm announced that its nearly one billion users would be able to perform crypto-related transactions at its over 30 million supported merchants. But till now, MasterCard is yet to give details of which tokens it would be supporting.