Bakkt’s partnership with MasterCard will allow banks and businesses to be able to issue their own branded crypto credit and debit cards to their consumers. The holders of these cards can then go ahead to buy Bitcoin (BTC) through Bakkt or even link to a fiat-based deposit method to buy Bitcoin.

At the All Markets Summit on Monday, Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael said:

“We want to provide consumer choice. We want to be able to provide the availability to use cryptocurrency in an everyday transaction.”

Besides allowing businesses to issue their customer with cards, the Mastercard partnership is also expected to allow companies to offer cryptocurrencies as part of their loyalty programs. For example, restaurants and hotels that offer points for freebies or any other reward perks could offer customers an option for converting the points into a cryptocurrency of their choosing.

The partnership name at a time when there is an increased interest in America for people to use digital assets in transactions. Noting this, Michael also said:

 “We’re seeing an increased amount of consumer choice in the ability to be able to use their form of payment … While we’re in the early stages of making this run, we’re showing the ability for people to be able to offer our merchants the ability to offer these new forms of payment as a way to acquire and appeal to new customer segments. We see a demographic that skews somewhat younger.”

MasterCard’s partnership with Bakkt came shortly after the crypto exchange announced its partnership with Google allowing users to pay for services and purchase goods using cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) through the Google Pay Wallet and payment system.