Binance and Mastercard launch prepaid crypto-to-fiat card in Argentina

Binance has partnered with Mastercard to debut its Binance Card in Argentina, the cryptocurrency exchange announced on Thursday.

The Binance Card converts cryptocurrencies to fiat currency “in real-time at the point of purchase,” a statement from Binance said. Cardholders in Argentina also can earn up to 8% cash back in crypto on certain purchases. 

“Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow,” Binance Latin America General Director Maximiliano Hinz said in a statement. “By using the Binance Card, merchants continue to receive fiat and the users pay in cryptocurrency they choose. We believe the Binance Card is a significant step in encouraging wider crypto use and global adoption and now it is available for users from Argentina.”

Argentina will be the first country in Latin America to access the Binance Card, a statement from Binance said. The card currently is in a “beta phase” and will roll out to a wider audience in the coming weeks, according to the statement. Binance mentions Bitcoin and Binance Coin (BNB) as two of the cryptocurrencies the cards will support. 

“The Binance Card issued by Credencial Payments will allow all new and existing Binance users in Argentina with a valid national ID to make purchases and pay bills with cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and BNB, at over 90 million Mastercard merchants worldwide, both in-store and online,” the exchange said in its press statement. 

Binance appears to be planning a further expansion of its card product. When Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao teased the Argentina card launch in a July 24 tweet, he added, “More regions soon.”

Argentina’s historically high inflation rate and currency controls have prompted locals to seek financial alternatives, such as cryptocurrencies. 

Binance’s prepaid card will join several others in Argentina that focus on crypto in some manner. Like the Binance Card, Lemon Cash’s Visa card also converts cryptocurrencies to fiat as needed based on purchases. Other cards focus on crypto cash back rewards. Argentine exchange Buenbit, for example, announced last August it was launching a prepaid BKR Mastercard for local residents. The card currently offers 2% cash back in crypto for every purchase. 

Along with Mastercard, Visa also has been focusing on its crypto-focused card partnerships in Latin America. In addition to Lemon Cash, Visa has card partnerships in the region with Crypto.com, Alterbank, Zro Bank, Agrotoken and Satoshi Tango, the company said in June. It also has an agreement with Tribal Credit to expand card offerings for small- and medium-sized businesses in the region, it said. 

Binance launched a version of the Binance Card for European residents in 2020. The card is issued by Visa and converts various cryptocurrencies to euros. That product functions as a debit card rather than a prepaid card. 

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