Mastercard Inc. will end its card partnership with Binance Holdings, the biggest crypto exchange that’s been dogged by legal issues.
The decision will affect all four of Mastercard’s co-branded card programs with Binance in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain, starting Sept. 22, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The credit card giant declined to give a reason for the move.
Launched amid a push to adopt crypto more broadly, Binance Card allows the crypto exchange’s consumers to pay for basic daily expenses with their funds in crypto assets.
Binance said in a post on social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that less than 1% of users in Latin America and the Middle East will be impacted by the decision and that Binance accounts globally are not affected.
Binance has been sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for breaking securities rules and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for shirking rules to allow American users to access the exchange. The company has disputed the allegations.
Mastercard said there’s no impact on any other crypto card program. The wind-down period will allow cardholders to convert any holdings in their Binance wallets, it said.
