Reuters, citing representatives of payment company Mastercard, reported that the company is disabling cryptocurrency payment cards Binance in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain.
It was previously reported that Binance was disabling its cards in Latin America and the Middle East. According to the exchange’s representatives, the service has not gained much popularity and the disconnection of cards will affect less than 1% of customers from these regions.
However, it seems that the decision to suspend cryptocurrencies was due to pressure from regulators. This was hinted to the publication by Mastercard’s head of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, Raj Dhamodharan (Raj Dhamodharan).
However, there is no official confirmation of this from either side. Recall that the exchange Binance recently changed the names of Russian banks’ cards for deposits. Now Sber’s card is called “green local card” and Tinkoff’s is called “yellow local card”. Analysts also linked the move to regulatory pressure – both banks are under Western sanctions.