Crypto Biz: Mastercard opens network to USDC, OKX departs Canada, Bitcoin climbs

cointelegraph.com:

Take, for example, the recent issues that Circle-issued USD Coin (USDC) faced when it depegged from the U.S. dollar following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. Two weeks later, Mastercard boldly integrated the stablecoin into its infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, allowing users to spend USDC through its network. It’s happening, folks!

And let’s not forget about Bitcoin (BTC) — that digital gold is still on the rise and decoupling from Wall Street, once again proving its value proposition and prompting calls for a hedge against equity markets in the long run.

This week’s Crypto Biz documents the latest developments on worldwide crypto adoption, and how banking system fears impact the crypto space.

Banks turmoil and regulatory crackdowns happening worldwide have not slowed down the ongoing blending of traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi). The on-ramps connecting the two sides seem even stronger despite the wild winds of change.

Global payment provider Mastercard has made another move into the crypto space to allow retail customers in the Asia-Pacific region to spend stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted. This move was made possible by a partnership with Stables, an Australian stablecoin platform. Users can spend and save USDC by converting it into fiat and settling on the Mastercard network. The wallet will accept deposits in several stablecoins, including Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD), with all deposits automatically converted into USDC.

We've partnered with @Mastercard and @circle to allow people to spend $USDC anywhere Mastercard is accepted - that's over 54 million locations worldwide! pic.twitter.com/KE8PS0bEOz

On-ramps for digital assets are also increasing in Nigeria, as crypto wallet MetaMask