Mastercard Announces Customizable NFT Debit Cards

For many enthusiasts, NFTs aren’t just digital assets they pay money for. Instead, NFTs are a community, a sub-culture, and even a way of life. This is partially why we see so many NFT collaborations that appear on consumer goods like clothes and beer cans. In the same way that fans of certain music acts or TV shows might want to show their love by wearing their logo, so do NFT fans.

Now, thanks to Mastercard, NFT lovers can have their favourite Bored Ape or Moonbird featured on their bank cards. This comes as the payment processing giant teamed up with hi, a European cryptocurrency exchange platform. 

This development makes MasterCard and hi the first to create such a card. 

“NEWS! Today @hi_com_official launches the world’s first debit card featuring NFT Customization, allowing cardholders to personalize the face of their card with an NFT Avatar,” Mastercard said on its official Twitter profile. 

NFTs on Cards

This partnership was announced on September 26, 2022, and is available only to Gold members of the exchange. To gain access to the cards, members need to sign up on Hi and then stake at least 100 of its native Hi tokens before they are put on a waiting list for the cards, though staking a higher amount of money will mean higher priority on the list. Along with this, users can’t just add the image and likeness of any NFT they fancy to the cards. Instead, the NFTs added have to be ones that they own and can prove ownership of.

Once they do this, they can add NFT from CryptoPunk, Moonbirds, goblintown, Bored Ape and Azuki, though more NFT collections might be supported soon. The cards, once issued, offer customers the best of both worlds as they can spend both their fiat and cryptocurrency with any merchant that accepts Mastercard.

There are also several perks that come with the card such as cashback and benefits at partner hotels. And, of course, they can do all this with their NFT-designed debit cards. 

As Christian Ray, Senior Vice President, Crypto and FinTech Enablement at mastercard explains, the company is committed to offering NFT and crypto options as consumer demand grows.

“As consumer interest in crypto and NFTs continues to grow, we are committed to making them an accessible payments choice for the communities who wish to use them. We are proud to be working with hi to continue to drive innovation in the market and enable these customizable cards together with the safety and security you’d expect from Mastercard,” he says. 

Future Initiatives

This initiative might be the first of its kind but it will not likely be the last. If NFT fans get their hands on them in massive numbers and it proves to be a success, it could be launched in other parts of the world (it is currently only available in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom) and by other companies. That way, NFT lovers from all walks of life can have their favourite assets on their bank cards.