OREANDA-NEWS. Mastercard has announced plans to launch credit, debit and prepaid cryptocurrency cards in the Asia-Pacific region. The company has entered into a partnership agreement with Hong Kong startup Amber Group, Australian cryptocurrency exchange CoinJar and Thai trading platform Bitkub. Cryptocard holders will be able to convert digital assets into fiat currency at the time of payment.

Mastercard noted that interest in cryptocurrency payments in the Asia-Pacific region is currently at an all-time high. According to the company's survey, 45% of residents in the region are considering using cryptocurrency payments in the next year. A year ago, the number of such residents did not exceed 12%.

Mastercard first launched the cryptocurrency card last summer as part of a partnership with the Wirex project. The cryptocurrency card is only available to residents of Europe.

At the end of October, Mastercard announced the integration of cryptocurrency payments into its payment system. Mastercard partners, including merchants and banks, will soon be able to add support for digital assets to their own products. The payment network has partnered with cryptocurrency platform Bakkt to do so. Mastercard customers will be able to buy, sell and store digital assets.