The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase ($COIN) announced on Tuesday a new partnership with payment giant MasterCard ($MA), which aims at simplifying the experience of buying non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the digital ownership certificates for goods such as art pieces, that have been gaining popularity over the last one year.
Coinbase said it will let users make purchases on its planned NFT marketplace through their Mastercard cards—without having to own cryptocurrency.
Coinbase has garnered more than 2.5 million people on its waitlist for its NFT platform since it announced the plan last October, making it a challenger to leading platforms such as OpenSea.
“Today, if you want to buy an NFT—such as a digital art piece—you first need to open a crypto wallet, buy crypto, then use it to purchase an NFT in an online marketplace,” Mastercard’s Raj Dhamodharan, who leads Mastercard’s digital asset and blockchain partnerships, wrote in a blog post.
Under the partnership, Mastercard will classify NFT as “digital goods,” which will allow cardholders to make NFT purchases through both credit cards and debit cards, a change from the status quo in the U.S. where many crypto purchases are supported with just debit cards.
Buyers will still need a crypto wallet, from Coinbase or elsewhere, to store the NFT after the purchase.
