Payments firm Mastercard has secured a BitLicense from the New York state financial regulator as it expands its crypto services. The firm noted that this move aligns its long-term strategy to support infrastructure for digital assets such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
Mastercard Secures BitLicense From New York’s NYDFS
In a press release, the payments firm announced that it has secured a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The firm joins Ripple, Coinbase, Circle, and Robinhood, which already hold this license.
Mastercard further noted that the approval aligns with their long-term strategy to responsibly engage with evolving payment and settlement infrastructure that supports digital currencies such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits. It is worth noting that this move comes as the firm expands into crypto payment and services.
As CoinGape reported, Mastercard recently partnered with Chainlink to enable 3.5 billion cardholders to purchase crypto online. With this, users will be able to purchase crypto on decentralized exchanges using their cards.
It is also worth noting that the firm agreed to acquire the stablecoin startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion earlier this year. Mastercard noted at the time that the deal further expands its end-to-end support for crypto assets and cross-border transactions across various currencies.
Furthermore, Mastercard has launched a crypto partner program to advance on-chain payments. Notable partners include Binance, Circle, Ripple, Gemini, PayPal, and Paxos. The program targets enterprise use cases such as remittances, global payouts, settlements, and business-to-business transfers.
Commitment To Advancing Interoperability
Mastercard reiterated its focus on advancing interoperability, reliability, and trust across the payments ecosystem as the digital and traditional financial systems continue to evolve. The firm has played a key role in merging the traditional financial and decentralized financial ecosystems, including partnering with crypto firms to launch widely used crypto payment cards.
Commenting on the NYFDS approval, Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, said, “This approval underscores our focus on aligning innovation with regulatory expectations of high levels of security, compliance, and risk management.”
The Mastercard is notably up amid the announcement of the BitLicense approval. The stock is currently trading at around $495, according to TradingView data.
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