Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has teamed up with crypto-focused payment solutions provider MoonPay in order to integrate direct credit and debit card payments on its platform.
In a press release published on April 1, MoonPay CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright noted:
“MoonPay‘s mission is to unlock ownership and onboard the world to Web3. To be successful, we have to make the process as simple as possible. MoonPay has done that for crypto. And now, in partnership with Opensea, we’re doing it for NFTs as well.”
Per the announcement, the partnership would allow OpenSea customers to purchase NFTs via MoonPays NFT Checkout service using payment methods such as MasterCard, Visa, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
The integration of these new payment methods will be implemented in several phases, MoonPay explained, and will allow OpenSea users to “easily purchase an NFT using a debit or credit card, sidestepping the need to first acquire cryptocurrency.”
Catching up to competitionMoonPays NFT Checkout service went live on January 27 and was touted as the “industry-first NFT plug-and-play solution that allows users to purchase an NFT instantly with a credit or debit card.”
“By expanding the reach of NFTs to anyone able to pay with a card, we‘re not only drastically scaling NFT adoption: we’re opening up new revenue streams for businesses, new royalty sources for artists, and altogether bringing the benefits that NFTs offer to a much wider brand ecosystem.”
Coincidentally, NFT marketplace Nifty‘s—one of OpenSea’s competitors—has announced a similar partnership with MoonPay just a few days ago.
Likewise, digital art online auction platform Nifty Gateway has already been supporting card payments for some time now. In January, the upcoming Coinbase NFT marketplace also partnered with MasterCard ahead of its launch reportedly slated for later this year.