Chainlink Partners Mastercard for Global Onchain Crypto Purchases

Chainlink has announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard to facilitate direct onchain cryptocurrency purchases for Mastercard cardholders globally. This collaboration aims to enable over 3 billion Mastercard users to make offchain payments for direct onchain crypto purchases, marking a significant step towards advancing decentralized finance (DeFi) adoption. The partnership will offer users secure fiat-to-crypto conversions, bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralized finance.

Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating that it aligns with Chainlink's mission to connect traditional finance with decentralized finance. He highlighted the potential for this collaboration to integrate the traditional payments world with the next generation of onchain decentralized exchanges, benefiting the over three billion cardholders in the Mastercard user base.

Several key players in both the crypto and traditional finance sectors are involved in this multilayered collaboration. ZeroHash, a provider of crypto, stablecoin, and tokenized services, will support the initiative by offering access to onchain infrastructure and liquidity. Additionally, integrations with Shift4 Payments, Swapper Finance, and XSwap, which taps into Uniswap for decentralized app experience, are part of this effort.

Mastercard's extensive payment network, spanning over 200 countries, has been actively expanding into the digital assets space through multiple high-profile partnerships with crypto platforms. Stablecoins are a key area where Mastercard has made notable forays, partnering with platforms like MetaMask, OKX, Crypto.com, and Kraken to bring stablecoin payments to millions of merchants. Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard, emphasized the company's commitment to bridging the gap between onchain commerce and offchain transactions, leveraging their global payments network to accelerate digital asset adoption in onchain commerce.

This partnership is a significant milestone for Chainlink, which has established itself as a core infrastructure provider across DeFi, banking, and tokenized real-world assets. Chainlink's other notable partnerships include major institutions such as Swift, Fidelity International, UBS, Euroclear, and ANZ. The collaboration with Mastercard is expected to further enhance Chainlink's role in the digital asset ecosystem, providing a seamless and secure way for users to engage in onchain crypto purchases.