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Mastercard is Banking on NFTs

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Austin Miller & John Meyer
June 14, 2022

GM! We're going to continue to write about NFTs, even if they aren't worth anything anymore 🙃 

Today's edition is brought to you by No Fun Team - a creative NFT studio helping onboard companies and individuals into web3. We also write The Mint. 

Think our brands could have fun together? We're a startup company and we want to help other startups in the space by featuring them in our growing community. Fill out this form to get started or to nominate someone!

It’s Been a Brutal Week

John here. Let's address the elephant in the room. 

The NFT market is down. Crypto is down. Stocks are down. Inflation keeps rising.

Honestly, my NFT portfolio is not looking nearly as exciting or shiny as it did a few months ago, and it's a hard pill to swallow. I knew this time would come, but the reality of it feels a little harder than I thought it would.

What hasn't changed during this time is my belief in the power of blockchain technology and the future of web3 to have practical, positive utility in our world. The concept of personal ownership and the possibilities existing in web3 still hold so much value, even if the monetary value is currently down. We are here building in this space because we believe this technology will be a part of everybody's daily lives in the future. Whether it's the deed to your house, the music you're listening to, or your daughter's high school diploma, this technology will continue to seep into our lives in practical ways in the next several years. Hold on, friends. WAGMI.

‘Ello Gov’na

Incumbent Democratic Governor Jared Polis is running for reelection in Colorado, and he’s using NFTs to help him win. Remember how campaigns used to hand out buttons as a way to market their candidate? Well, this is essentially the same thing but way cooler.

Polis is selling 2,022 NFTs for $52.80 (Denver’s elevation is 5,280 ft) a piece. If he sells all 2,022, he will generate roughly $1 million for his campaign. As of today, he’s sold 105 NFTs, raising about $5,500. 

As many of you know, fundraising is vital for winning political offices. Polis is the first major office holder to use an NFT as a way to fundraise, and The Mint thought his idea was great. His NFT release connects him with younger voters, shows ingenuity, and gives people something to collect in exchange for fundraising dollars. Way to go, Jared!

Christine Brown Tells It How It Is

A high-ranking Robinhood executive left the company for Floor, an app that tracks your NFT portfolio.

Christine Brown, Robinhood’s former COO of Crypto, made the move in late March.

In an interview with Decrypt, Brown talked about her reasons for leaving a company with a $6.5 billion market cap, why she sees value in NFTs and discussed her new adventure with Floor.  

"I think NFTs will actually power an immense number of use cases, from things that we already know such as art, tickets memberships, to things that we don't know yet. We’re so early, and there's so much that can be built on top of this initial use case, that to me it actually feels much bigger than just an investment vehicle, which is where Robinhood's focus was."

-Christine Brown

Our staff loved this interview because it reminded us of why we love NFTs. In a time when crypto is crashing and NFT collections are losing value left and right, it’s important to remember that NFTs are far more than speculative investments. 

Buying an NFT Just Got Easier

In last Friday’s Mint, we briefly mentioned that Mastercard would be bringing its payment network to web3. This is BIG news, so the story gets its own block today. Let’s get into what this means for the industry.

Mastercard announced that they are opening their payments network to Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay. Currently, Mastercard only services Coinbase’s NFT marketplace, so this is a big step up and shows they are committed to enabling their payment network on as many platforms as they can. 

Why this is important → 

One of the learning curves that is generally associated with owning an NFT is that you have to learn how to open a wallet, buy crypto, and attach your wallet to a marketplace that sells an NFT that you want to own. Mastercard is looking to make that learning curve go away by giving their 2.9 billion cardholders instant access to buying an NFT. In their PR release, Mastercard stated that they surveyed 35,000 people in 40 countries and found that 45% had purchased an NFT or would consider doing so, and roughly half sought more flexibility — being able to pay with crypto for everyday purchases or using a credit or debit card to buy an NFT. 

Mastercard’s announcement will most certainly have long-lasting effects in the industry, and we are excited to see that they are helping make the space more accessible to everyday customer.

Time to go buy an MLB NFT on Candy with my debit card :) 

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