Leading crypto exchange COINBASE announced today that it is partnering with Mastercard, a multinational financial services firm, to serve users for its upcoming NFT platform.
According to Coinbase, the partnership is aimed at simplifying user experience on Coinbase NFT, its upcoming NFT platform. Coinbase NFT was announced sometime in October last year, and is being built as a peer-to-peer marketplace for minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs. The platform is said to provide social features that would “open new avenues for conversation and discovery,” especially for users who may be new to crypto and NFTs.
“Thanks to our work with Mastercard, we’ll be able to provide a better customer experience on Coinbase NFT, and plan on working to find ways to bring this opportunity to the broader ecosystem through Mastercard’s scale and global network.” wrote Prakash Hariramani, Coinbase senior product director for payments and commerce.
The partnership is working to classify NFTs as “digital goods” to allow for a broader consumer group to purchase NFTs through Mastercard’s payment gateway, essentially “unlocking” a more diverse market for NFTs, which have traditionally been accessible only through NFT marketplaces which required prior crypto knowledge and access through crypto wallets.
“Just as we helped millions of people access Bitcoin for the first time in an easy and trusted way, we want to do the same for NFTs.” Hariramani shares.
NFTs have had a broad impact on digital consumer culture and the creator economies that have been created as a result, the growth of its market to a global scale is a testament to its accelerated adoption.
“We’re working to make NFTs more accessible because we believe tech should be inclusive. When more people are included in new technologies, it spurs innovation, helps economies grow and expands choices for consumers.” Mastercard said in a statement.
The announcement from Coinbase has not provided a specific date for the launch of Coinbase NFT, only saying that it’s expected to launch soon. According to Mastercard, it will be bringing its cybersecurity capabilities to the partnership, in order to ensure that Mastercard customers’ data remain protected and ensure that NFTs purchased through Coinbase NFT are secure in the same manner.
