Tezos, the smart-contract blockchain founded by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman in 2017, is set to launch a new crypto payments debit card in collaboration with Baanx, a digital assets card facilitator and partner of Mastercard. This Tezos-branded, non-custodial crypto card will leverage Etherlink, an Ethereum-compatible layer-2 blockchain powered by Tezos Smart Rollups technology, to facilitate fast and affordable transactions.
The Tezos Foundation-backed debit card will be accepted by over 110 million merchants worldwide who are compatible with Mastercard, providing extensive global reach. Unlike traditional crypto cards, this card is linked to non-custodial wallets, allowing customers to maintain control over their crypto assets until needed. This trend is growing in popularity, with similar initiatives like the MetaMask debit card and DeFi firm 1Inch’s card already in operation.
Baanx has a longstanding relationship with Tezos, spanning over four years, and the Tezos Foundation has participated in previous Baanx funding rounds. This is an on-chain, non-custodial payment solution that allows users to spend their on-chain balance in a non-custodial fashion, as they would with a standard debit card.
The broader scope behind crypto cards includes replacing online banking for the unbanked or underbanked and supporting the creator economy. As well as the roughly a billion people who don’t have access to financial services, there are those who basically want to step away from traditional banking and control their assets but they need that real-world connectivity in order to do so in a digital asset world. Another use would be for the creator economy, where a gaming wallet issuer would want to pay out to their users directly without handing back revenues to app stores.
This initiative by Tezos, Baanx, and Mastercard marks a significant step forward in the integration of cryptocurrency into everyday financial transactions, promising to enhance accessibility and usability for a wide range of users.
Digital Assets Desk
