Mastercard opens up its payment network to NFTs, web3

In a growing effort to make digital assets more accessible, Mastercard (NYSE:MA) is bringing its payments network to non-fungible tokens and web3, according to a release Thursday. Moreover, the payments giant is partnering with NFT marketplaces, including Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox (SAND-USD), Mintable, and web3 provider MoonPay to enable NFT commerce, the release said. "We’re working with these companies to allow people to use their Mastercard cards for NFTs purchases, whether that’s on one of these companies’ marketplaces or using their crypto services," Mastercard (MA) explained. In turn, the NFT ecosystem could get a big boost since there's a whopping 2.9B Mastercard cards worldwide. According to a new Mastercard (MA) survey of more than 35K people in 40 countries, 45% of the respondents had acquired an NFT or would consider doing so, and about around half wanted more payment flexibility, the release said. The move comes after Mastercard (MA)