Coinbase Joins MasterCard For NFT Marketplace Purchases

MasterCard Credit Card Company has said that users of Coinbase’s forthcoming nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace can use their cards to make purchases as part of the companies’ new partnership. This agreement is meant to enable non-crypto natives to get into the NFTs world without having to use a wallet and first purchase Ether and other tokens.

In a January 18 blogpost, Raj Dhamodharan, MasterCard executive vice president of digital asset and blockchain products, said under the agreement, nonfungible tokens would be considered ‘digital goods’ and may be acquired using a credit card. That measure is aimed at enabling the non-crypto natives to get into NFTs without using a wallet and purchasing Ether or any other tokens.

Dhamodharan stated:

“Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are used to this process. But for most people, it’s not simple, it’s not intuitive. We think it should be much easier. That will ensure NFTs can be for everyone […] getting more people involved safely and securely is perhaps the best way to help the NFT market thrive.”

Since Coinbase first introduced its NFT marketplace, under the planned name ‘Coinbase NFT’, in October, at least 1 million people have already signed up to be on the waiting list. The cryptocurrency exchange plans to make the NFT platform available to the United States users before opening it up to users in other nations.

NFT Space Growing Rapidly

After the massive growth of the NFT space in 2021, some of the major crypto exchanges like Binance and FTX developed their NFT marketplaces before Coinbase’s October announcement. In June 2021, Binance launched an NFT platform that is aimed at “providing the highest liquidity and cheapest fees for users.”

FTX followed in September with a platform that exclusively for United States-based customers. Based on a recent report from DappRadar, there might be a higher demand for NFTs in 2022 after the surge the other year. The platform also reported that NFT trades generated $10.7 billion in Q3 2021 to $11.9 billion in Q4, with the first ten days of 2022 ‘looking strong.’

DappRadar analyst Pedro Herrera said:

“Despite the volatile cryptocurrencies cycles, NFTs maintain a stagnant positive trend.”