Credit card giant Mastercard has partnered with the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to launch another prepaid crypto card in Latin America.
On January 30, Binance has announced the launch of the Binance Card in Brazil. The new card is issued by Dock, a payment institution regulated by Banco Central do Brasil, the Brazilian central bank.
The card will allow new Binance users and those already in the country, holding a valid national ID, to make purchases and pay bills directly with cryptocurrencies. The card is in beta testing and will be “widely available in the coming weeks”according to Binance.
Brazil is the second country where Binance has launched the product, after Argentina in August. According to the announcement, Brazil is among the top 10 markets globally for Binance.
Hello Brazil! There #Binance Card has just been launched in Brazil – another step towards the adoption of cryptocurrencies pic.twitter.com/UJRmpMhpbQ
— Binance (@binance) January 30, 2023
Hello Brazil! #Binance Card has just launched in Brazil – another step towards crypto adoption pic.twitter.com/UJRmpMhpbQ
— Binance (@binance) January 30, 2023
In a press release shared with Cointelegraph, Guilherme Nazar, general manager of Binance Brazil, stated that the card is a “significant step to encourage wider use of cryptocurrencies and global adoption”adding:
“Payments are one of the earliest and most obvious use cases for cryptocurrencies, but adoption still has plenty of room to grow.”
The card will allow you to convert 14 cryptocurrencies into fiat in real time at the point of sale. Benefits include up 8% cash back in crypto on purchases that allow it and zero fees on some ATM withdrawals.
According to Mastercard’s New Payments Index 2022, Brazil leads the world average for the use and adoption of cryptocurrencies. The global survey, conducted on over 35,000 interviewedfound that 49% of Brazilians have made at least one cryptocurrency-related transaction in the past year, compared to the global average of 41%.
Related: Coinbase CEO Urges Brazil and Argentina to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender
In December, Jair Bolsonaro, the outgoing President, signed a law to legalize the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method in the country.
The new legislation has not made Bitcoin legal tender, as in El Salvador, but it does include many digital assets in the definition of legal payment methods. A licensing system has also been established for service providers related to virtual assets.
