Nexo, a major crypto currency lender, has developed a crypto-backed MasterCard card that allows customers to pay for services using crypto currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) without having to sell their crypto.
Nexo announced on Wednesday that it has teamed with MasterCard and DiPocket, a peer-to-peer payment company, to develop Nexo Card, a crypto card that allows cardholders to utilize their crypto as security rather than sell it.
The card is tied to a Nexo-provided and crypto-backed credit line allowing the use of several assets as collateral, including but not restricted to Bitcoin, Tether (USDT) stable coin and Ether (ETH).
“Nexo Card works with Nexo’s crypto-backed credit lines,” a Nexo representative told Tribesilicon, “This means that payments for your transactions come from your existing credit line, whereas your digital asset holding remains intact.” The collateral must be repaid in conformity with Nexo’s terms of service, according to the spokesperson.
The Nexo Card’s credit line commences and stays at 0% APR, as per the company, and the crypto-backed Mastercard card is the first-of-its-kind. The card has no minimum payback requirements and does not charge foreign exchange costs on purchases up to €20,000 ($21,700). The Nexo Card, like conventional Mastercard cards, is accessible in both physical and virtual form, and includes direct Google Pay and Apple Pay integration.
Nexo expects that 92 million retailers globally who accept Mastercard will accept the Nexo Card. This will allow investors to spend up to 90% of their crypto’s fiat value in seconds without having to sell any of it, according to the statement.
Nexo said the card is now available in “certain European markets.” The Nexo card is only available to citizens of 29 countries, as per the firm’s site, including Belgium, Finland, France, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, and others.
The new product launch, according to Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev, is critical for the integration between established financial infrastructure and digital assets.
“This one-of-a-kind solution will enable millions of individuals, initially in Europe and then around the world, to spend quickly without sacrificing the value of their cryptocurrencies, providing extraordinary everyday utility for the burgeoning asset class,” he said.
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s head of crypto and blockchain technology, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the cryptocurrency market, saying: “Mastercard thinks that digital assets are transforming the financial environment, and we’re leading the way with solutions like our partnership with Nexo, which gives users new and unique ways to pay for and utilize their crypto holdings.”
Nexo began working on a MasterCard-branded card that is a crypto-collateral-based card in August 2019, as reported earlier. Earlier this year, the Nexo Card was partially rolled out in a number of European countries. Last year, the company announced a major collaboration with Fidelity Digital Assets, Fidelity Investments’ crypto arm.
