✅Coinbase will let you use Mastercard to buy NFTs on its upcoming marketplace

Coinbase will let you use Mastercard to buy NFTs on its upcoming marketplace

Mastercard has partnered with cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase to make purchasing NFTs easy for everyone, the companies said on Tuesday.

The partnership will allow people to purchase NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, with Mastercard cards on Coinbase's NFT marketplace once it goes live. With this move, Mastercard and Coinbase hope to make purchasing NFTs as simple as purchasing a T-shirt on any e-commerce site.

"We're working to make NFTs more accessible because we believe tech should be inclusive," said Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's executive vice president in charge of digital assets and blockchain partnerships, in a release. "When more people are included in new technologies, it spurs innovation, helps economies grow and expands choices for consumers."

Coinbase in October unveiled plans to launch a marketplace for NFTs, which are digital assets like music, artwork or even tweets that have had their authenticity certified on a blockchain. There are also NFT collections, like Bored Ape Yacht Club, that take a template and produce hundreds or thousands of variations. Rare apes in the collection have sold for over $1 million, while more common variants go for around $200,000.

Coinbase says its NFT marketplace is coming soon but hasn't given a specific launch date.

American Express has also said it’s exploring using its cards and network with stablecoins. But CEO Stephen Squeri recently told Yahoo Finance that consumers should not expect to see an Amex-crypto-linked card “anytime soon.”

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin were first designed to get around banks and intermediaries. But banks and payment companies have embraced those technologies as cryptocurrencies become mainstream.