Mastercard is reportedly preparing to announce that any of the banks and merchants on its payments network will be able to integrate cryptocurrencies into their products. The integration could include cryptocurrency wallets, credit and debit cards that offer crypto rewards, and loyalty programs where points can be converted into bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency lender, BlockFi, has partnered with private investment manager, Neuberger Berman, to develop new cryptocurrency investment products that will be housed in a separate entity called BlockFi nb.

German authorities are auctioning a total of 215 seized bitcoin, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. Bidding for the 215 coins is set to end on October 27.

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Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Mastercard to Let Banks and Merchants Offer Crypto Services
• BlockFi to Launch Crypto Investment Products With Neuberger Berman
• German Authorities to Auction 215 Seized Bitcoins
• Looking into stETH Swaps
• Sponsored: Crypto.com - The World’s Fastest Growing Crypto App

Mastercard to Let Banks and Merchants Offer Crypto Services

Mastercard is reportedly preparing to announce that any of the banks and merchants on its payments network will be able to integrate cryptocurrencies into their products. The integration could include cryptocurrency wallets, credit and debit cards that offer crypto rewards, and loyalty programs where points can be converted into bitcoin.

To do so, Mastercard is partnering with the Intercontinental Exchange’s cryptocurrency firm, Bakkt, which will provide custodial services behind the scenes for those who sign up. Sherri Haymond, Mastercard’s executive vice president of digital partnerships, was quoted saying:

“We want to offer all of our partners the ability to more easily add crypto services to whatever it is they’re doing. Our partners, be they banks, fintechs or merchants, can offer their customers the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency through an integration with the Bakkt platform.”

Mastercard runs a dominant global payments network and has relationships with more than 20,000 financial institutions throughout the world. Shares of Bakkt surged over 200% on the announcement.

BlockFi to Launch Crypto Investment Products With Neuberger Berman

Cryptocurrency lender, BlockFi, has partnered with private investment manager, Neuberger Berman, to develop new cryptocurrency investment products that will be housed in a separate entity called BlockFi nb.

BlockFi nb has said exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are likely to be among the products it develops, adding that it plans to give investors “cost-effective and convenient access to the performance of digital assets from their brokerage accounts.”

Neuberger Berman is a $400 billion asset manager. It recently tweaked the strategy of its $164 million commodities fund to allow up to 5% of its assets to be held in bitcoin futures and funds.

German Authorities to Auction 215 Seized Bitcoins

German authorities are auctioning a total of 215 seized BTC, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. Bidding for the 215 coins is set to end on October 27.

The ministry estimates the market value of one bitcoin is at $62,700, the smaller lots of 0.1 or 0.5 BTC appear to be trading above its estimate. The largest lot being auctioned is 10 BTC which is seeing a significant price discount after receiving a few bids.

The bulk of the BTC being auctioned was reportedly seized during investigations into darknet marketplaces. Proceeds from the auction will go to North Rhine-Westphalia’s treasury. North Rhine-Westphalia is the largest state in Germany.

Looking into stETH Swaps

This week, we're examining stETH swap volume. stETH is a tokenized version of Ethereum’s ether representing ETH tokens being staked on the decentralized Lido platform.

Lido is a liquid staking solution for Ethereum backed by several staking providers. It allows token holders to stake their ETH and receive a tokenized version of it back to maintain liquidity.

As we can see in the data below from @crpytoicicle, “OUT” transactions far outnumber “IN” transactions.When we examine transaction volume, however, “IN” transactions far outweigh “OUT” swaps. What’s more, the volume entering and leaving stETH pools on Curve, where most stETH volume has been going, have been roughly equal in recent weeks.

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