Mastercard has announced plans to support cryptocurrencies in 2021, paving the way for its nearly one billion users to spend digital assets at more than 30 million merchants. The firm believes this may open merchants up to new customers and build loyalty with existing customers who are already migrating to digital assets over traditional fiat options. “It’s about choice. Mastercard isn’t here to recommend you start using cryptocurrencies. But we are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value” While the global payments giant noted it is planning to support stablecoins due to their “reliability and security,” …

A luxury auto dealership in Nevada has reported a steady increase in Bitcoin (BTC) payments, a testament to the bull market currently underway as more investors convert their holdings into high-end sports cars. Vegas Auto Gallery, whose inventory includes makes and models from Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini, recently sold two high-end sports cars to customers who paid more than $6 million in BTC. As the Wall Street Journal reports, owner Nick Dossa says that roughly 3% to 5% of the dealership’s revenue comes from Bitcoin transactions. The dealership isn’t accepting Bitcoin payments outright, but through BitPay, a third-party …

The vast majority of China’s $1.5 million digital yuan lottery winners have received and spent their “red envelopes” of digital yuan. As of Sunday, a total of 47,573 out of 50,000 lottery winners in China have received their prizes, Shenzhen authorities officially announced. According to the announcement, the winners conducted a total of 62,788 transactions accounting for 8.8 million yuan ($1.3 million). This amount represents about 88% of the total 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) that was to be distributed in the giveaway pilot in Shenzhen. Some winners have not only spent their “red envelopes” but also topped up their …

American fast-food giants like Starbucks and McDonald’s are reportedly not participating in China’s ongoing digital yuan tests. According to an Oct. 14 report by news agency Sina Finance, China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is still being piloted on a “small scale,” primarily involving the retail and catering industry. As reported, a number of foreign merchants, which were rumored to be part of China’s CBDC tests, are actually not using the digital yuan for payment so far. Xiong’an, one of the major Chinese cities piloting the digital yuan, reportedly had 19 companies involved in its CBDC pilot, including Starbucks, …

The major Chinese city of Shenzhen is launching a pilot program to promote the digital yuan with a public giveaway. In collaboration with the country's central bank, Shenzhen is planning to distribute a total of 10 million digital yuan ($1.5 million) — China’s central bank digital currency, local news agency Sina Finance reports Oct. 9. As reported, the giveaway pilot will be funded by Shenzhen's Luohu District. The giveaway money will be reportedly distributed to 50,000 recipients through a lottery. Shenzhen residents can start applying online to participate in the giveaway on Oct. 9. According to the report, each “gift” …

As part of ongoing fiat-to-crypto expansion, major cryptocurrency Binance is adding support for the Nigerian Naira (NGN) on its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. Binance P2P, a consumer-to-consumer business arm of Binance exchange, is rolling out support for the first African fiat currency on its platform. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Binance P2P users can trade major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) using NGN with zero transaction fees starting from March 4. Users in Nigeria can now post trade ads via P2P Merchants The NGN integration also allows users in Nigeria to directly purchase and sell cryptos like Bitcoin, Ether …

New Monaco-based cryptocurrency debit card supplier Bitsa has just expanded its prepaid card with major privacy-focused altcoin Monero (XMR). By enabling Monero support on its Bitsa Card, the company unclocks “all types” of XMR-based card transactions in physical stores and online, including card-to-card transfers and Monero conversion to euro (EUR), Bitsa announced on Feb. 21. Launched in Q3 2019, Bitsa Card supports a total of 12 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) alongside EUR bank transfers and payments so far, Bitsa COO Luis Vaello said in an email to Cointelegraph. Bitsa Card is one of the world’s first crypto card providers to …

Major cryptocurrency payment service provider BitPay has confirmed that its service had a temporary outage of Bitcoin (BTC) payments on Dec. 22. Bitcoin payments were briefly unavailable for almost 3.5 hours on BitPay as the company was working to fix transaction issues, BitPay Support tweeted Dec. 22. According to the information, the service was restored by 4:25 PM EST. In an email to Cointelegraph, BitPay did not provide additional details about the possible cause of the outage, stating: “There were temporary issues with BitPay’s BTC payment processing system. Our tech team was alerted and promptly resolved the issue.” Multiple users …

A crypto payment gateway is offering an easy way for merchants to integrate digital currencies into their websites. Coinremitter says its service is so simple that it can be set up by anyone and activated quickly — with powerful security ensuring funds are kept safe. The company’s payment gateway offers support for major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Tether, along with more niche alternatives such as Dogecoin and Dash. According to Coinremitter, no ID or bank account is required to establish a payment gateway that is global, anonymous, free of chargebacks and “zero risk.” Once an account has …

The Cardano Foundation, the firm behind the 12th biggest cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA), has launched AdaPay, an ADA payment gateway for merchants. Developed by the Cardano Foundation and enterprise-grade fintech platform Coti, the solution allows merchants to accept ADA payments with “near-instant” settlement in 35 fiat currencies directly in their bank accounts, the firm announced Nov. 27. The payment gateway was first announced in October 2019 The Cardano Foundation and Coti first announced their plans for the ADA payment gateway on Oct. 23. The payment solution is now purportedly available to be integrated directly into merchant’s website, using either an AdaPay …

A crypto payment infrastructure provider is celebrating after reaching an important milestone: achieving a presence in more than 500 stores across Slovenia and Croatia. GoCrypto, the newly upgraded platform that succeeded Eligma’s Elipay, is now setting its sights on expanding to other parts of Europe: namely Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Serbia and Bulgaria. The company says it provides online and offline stores with an easy way of accepting custodial and noncustodial crypto wallets — giving them access to an ever-growing number of consumers who want to pay using digital currencies. According to GoCrypto, payments are processed instantaneously, with merchants …

It’s one of the biggest challenges facing blockchain and crypto — a hurdle only the industry can solve. Without a solution, even CEOs from major global exchanges fear that mass adoption will never be achievable. Scalability is the long-running thorn in the side of this fledgling technology, which is still relatively young and has yet to make meaningful inroads into the world’s economy. At a basic level, this relates to whether a blockchain network is capable of providing the same fast, high-quality experience to all of its users — irrespective of how many are online at any given time. Consumers …