As news broke of Mastercard’s plans to accept crypto as payment for over 30 million merchants & that the oldest bank in the US will launch custody services for Bitcoin, BTC broke a new ATH of $48,6k.
Bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high on February 11 as it broke $48,678, growing over 5% in 24 hours after news broke about Mastercard’s plans to accept crypto as payment for its 30+ million merchants, and that the oldest bank in the US will launch custody services for Bitcoin.
Mastercard’s 30M Merchants To Accept Crypto
Mastercard has announced that close to 1 billion of their users will soon be able to spend selected cryptocurrencies at more than 30 million merchants worldwide.
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The process will reportedly be quite simple: When a customer wants to buy an item or good with crypto, Mastercard’s partners will convert the cryptocurrency in question into local currency and then transmit them over Mastercard’s network.
Although Mastercard has yet to announce which cryptos will be available to use to purchase with, the firm is likely to follow other similar examples who have added Bitcoin, Ethereum and other top cryptocurrencies as a payment option.
Mastercard currently holds over 89 blockchain patents with an additional 285 applications pending, so the company is no stranger to the Research and Development side of crypto, although this latest move further cements Mastercard’s openness to embrace digital assets for its massive user base and extensive merchant network.
The news comes just two days after it was revealed that Tesla is planning to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for their products, laying the groundwork for a potential paradigm shift as more companies are set to follow Tesla’s lead in accepting BTC and other crypto as payment.
America’s Oldest Bank Joins Bitcoin
Bank of New York Mellon, America’s oldest bank, announced plans on February 11 to hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin and other cryptos as an asset manager on behalf of its customers.
An executive of BNY Mellon stated that “digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream.” The bank is set to commence offering custody services for BTC and other digital assets as early as this year.
For each new day that passess, another major multinational company or prominent corporate entity is publicly expressing their intent to enter, or announcing their entry, into Bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole, often as a hedge against USD inflation.
The crypto market is currently at an all-time high in total market capitalization, amounting to roughly $1.44 trillion. However, given the maturing nature of the blockchain space over the past four years and the wide range of financial services now offered from crypto companies worldwide, we are only just getting started in terms of growth, reach and global impact as an industry.
Sincerely,
Misha Lederman
Director of Communications at Klever.io
