Binance Brings Back Mastercard Deposits and Purchases after Nearly a Year-long Pause

Purchases and deposits via Mastercard are returning to Binance after nearly a full year of pause, as the exchange decided to reintroduce a popular payment method. Initially, Binance put Mastercard use on pause last year in August because of the legal challenges that it was facing in the US.

Mastercard Deposits And Purchases To Return To Binance

Binance’s conflicts with the US financial regulators have troubled the exchange greatly, to the point where it had to make certain sacrifices, such as discontinuing the use of Mastercard as an available payment method.

At the time, both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had filed multiple charges against the world’s largest crypto exchange.

While Binance is almost constantly facing regulatory scrutiny somewhere in the world, its spokesperson stated that the decision to bring Mastercard payments back was reached after a review of the controls and processes that the exchange has lately implemented.

Because of the changes, Binance will allow Mastercard purchases on its network, with plans to support withdrawals and potentially other services in due time.

Mastercard also confirmed this development, although it stressed the importance of constant monitoring. For now, the card giant said that it also reviewed the controls and processes that Binance has implemented. Given its decision to support Binance purchases and deposits, it appears that Mastercard was pleased with the result of the exchange’s efforts.

This affected several countries when Binance and Mastercard ended their collaboration on crypto card programs in 2023. More than that, the move revealed that the divide between the crypto industry and major financial institutions is getting bigger.

Some of the countries that were affected by the end of the partnership the most are Latin American nations, including Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, but also the Middle Eastern island country of Bahrain. For these nations, the loss of Mastercard as a payment method meant ending access to crypto card services that allowed transactions in traditional currencies while the users were paying with their crypto assets located in Binance’s wallets.

Binance Ended Partnerships With Mastercard and Visa Alike

Mastercard was not the only one that ended the issuance of co-branded cards with Binance in European and other countries. Visa also did it, starting a trend that showed that traditional financial institutions are becoming hesitant when engaging with crypto firms.

Binance’s spokesperson confirmed that the four mentioned countries will no longer have access to the exchange’s four crypto card programs.

The exchange also halted its crypto-backed debit cards in the Middle East and Latin America back in September last year. Instead, Binance suggested that its clients move to Binance Pay, which worked as a way of continuing the support of crypto transactions using mobile devices.

Finally, the exchange also faced regulatory issues for its use of sanctioned banks in Russia, for which it supposedly enabled P2P crypto transfers, which further stained its reputation in the crypto world, especially when it comes to its relationship with the regulators.