Chainlink Partners Mastercard to Enable 3 Billion Cardholders to Buy Crypto On-Chain

Chainlink has announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard, enabling over 3 billion cardholders worldwide to purchase crypto assets directly on-chain through a secure fiat-to-crypto conversion process. This collaboration aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), making it easier for mainstream users to access the on-chain economy.

The partnership involves several key players, including Zerohash, Swapper Finance, Shift4 Payments, and XSwap, all of which utilize the Uniswap protocol. Zerohash provides the necessary on-chain services and liquidity for converting fiat into crypto, ensuring seamless smart contract execution. Chainlink, known for its trusted interoperability infrastructure, and Mastercard, a global payment network, together offer a secure and innovative way to revolutionize on-chain commerce and drive broader adoption of crypto assets.

Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink, highlighted that this partnership represents a convergence of traditional finance and decentralized finance, a goal that Chainlink was built to achieve. He expressed excitement about connecting Mastercard's extensive user base with on-chain decentralized exchanges, facilitated by innovative implementations with Swapper Finance, XSwap, Shift4, and Zerohash.

Raj Dhamodharan, vice president of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard, emphasized the growing interest in connecting to the digital assets ecosystem easily. Mastercard is leveraging its expertise and global payment network to bridge the gap between on-chain commerce and off-chain transactions. The partnership with Chainlink provides a secure and innovative method to revolutionize on-chain commerce and drive the broader adoption of crypto assets.

Zerohash will provide the core compliance, custody, and transaction infrastructure to enable the conversion of fiat to crypto in a regulated manner. Shift4 will handle card processing, while XSwap will source liquidity from decentralized exchanges like the Uniswap protocol, supporting the final execution of swaps on-chain. This collaboration ensures a unified, compliant, and seamless user experience, bringing crypto asset access to payment cardholders.

During a fireside chat at the Digital Asset Summit in April, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov discussed the convergence of TradFi and DeFi with Guy Young, Ethena Labs Founder. Nazarov agreed that DeFi and TradFi will eventually converge by combining DeFi’s superior distribution channel with TradFi’s risk management and custody guarantees. He also noted that the increasing adoption of blockchain will ultimately blur the distinction between private and public chains. Young highlighted that bringing institutions on-chain is an inevitable yet long-term goal, though the speed of this shift may be disappointing.

Edward Woodford, CEO and CO-Founder of Zerohash, expressed excitement about Zerohash being the infrastructure partner alongside Chainlink and Mastercard on the Swapper Finance platform. Zerohash offers a flexible crypto and stablecoin infrastructure that powers compliant crypto-to-crypto swaps, providing simple access to decentralized exchanges through seamless, compliant onboarding.

Drew Turchin, Head of Business Development at Uniswap Labs, noted that the Uniswap protocol has become the foundation for on-chain markets, enabling developers worldwide to build new tools for a wide range of users. He was excited to see Swapper Finance utilize the protocol, highlighting its role as critical infrastructure in the financial stack.

According to Chainlink, this collaboration drives a new wave of user-centric solutions that bridge the gap between crypto-native technology and real-world usability. The Swapper Finance platform is now live and available for users to transact, marking a significant step forward in the integration of traditional finance with decentralized finance.