These results can be influenced by the fact that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are among a group of banks that banned credit card purchases for digital currency in February 2018, citing price volatility and potential credit risks.
While cross-border volumes grew by 19%, that number dropped by 2 percentage points from the fourth quarter (Q4 2017), in part because fewer people bought digital currencies like Bitcoin with their credit cards, the company said for CNBC during an earnings call.
Among other factors that influenced these results, Mastercard’s CEO pointed out to the uncertainty in Asia, and said some exchanges are pulling back in South Korea, while others in Japan are worried about security. Moreover, the CEO made it clear that cryptocurrency is not a major part of corporate strategy because of its unpredictability.
In December 2017, Bitcoin rose to nearly USD 20,000 after starting the year below USD 1,000. Its 1,300 percent rise in 2017 was followed by a sharp correction in 2018. The cryptocurrency lost nearly half of its value in the first three months of 2018, CNBC cited data from CoinDesk.
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