Mastercard Expands Further Into Crypto

With the new partnership between Mastercard and Chainlink (LINK), Mastercard users will be able to buy Bitcoin on the blockchain.

This "major step forward in the mainstream adoption of Web3" was announced on Tuesday morning by the two companies.

In a notable development, the payment giant is advancing its stablecoin initiative by incorporating PYUSD, USDG, and FIUSD into its network, which will improve stablecoin settlements and transactions for businesses and customers alike.

Based on Tuesday's announcement, the major decentralized exchange (DEX) in the Chainlink ecosystem, XSwap, implements the Chainlink standard for data and interoperability.

On the announcement, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, said, "This is the type of traditional finance and decentralized finance convergence that Chainlink was built to make possible. I’m excited about Chainlink’s ability to enable this critical connection between the traditional payments world and the over three billion cardholders in the Mastercard user base directly into the next-generation trading environments of on-chain decentralized exchanges.”

Swapper Finance makes use of this capability by integrating with Zerohash and Shift4 Payments, as stated in Tuesday's release.

To facilitate the controlled conversion of money into cryptocurrency for use in smart contracts, ZeroHash supplies the essential compliance, custody, and transaction infrastructure.

Cardholders can now buy cryptocurrency on-chain via decentralized exchanges, according to Chainlink's Swapper Finance app, which went live on Tuesday.

Nazarov said, “It has been great collaborating closely with the Mastercard team on this innovative implementation, as well as the teams at Swapper Finance, XSwap, Shift4, and Zerohash. This was a complex and multilayered collaboration, which I was thrilled to see the Chainlink community help make possible."

Leading credit card corporation Mastercard has already taken several steps regarding cryptocurrencies for consumer use in 2025.

Stablecoin settlement functionality was formally enabled in April, allowing users to pay with stablecoins.

Also, a new card is in the works thanks to the partnership between the card issuer and cryptocurrency exchange OKX. Such collaborations exist between Mastercard and several cryptocurrency organizations, MetaMask included.

Partnerships like the one between Mastercard and Chainlink are attracting a new generation of crypto asset consumers by making the technology more accessible and practical in everyday life.

In addition to supporting Circle's USDC, the payments giant announced on Tuesday that it will integrate many stablecoins into its global network.

Highlighted are PayPal's PYUSD, the Global Dollar (USDG) overseen by Paxos, and Fiserv's recently launched FIUSD. Furthermore, Mastercard Move is set to introduce stablecoin transactions for cross-border payments.

The company also revealed its partnership with financial technology provider Fiserv (FI) to incorporate FIUSD compatibility into its card offerings, on- and off-ramps, and merchant settlements.

Mastercard One Credential will enable customers to utilize both fiat currency and stablecoins via a unified interface.

Customers will soon be able to use stablecoins in the same ways they use traditional currencies for transfers and payments, including at the firm's 150 million merchant locations, and financial institutions and enterprises will soon be able to issue, redeem, and settle transactions using these coins.

Stablecoin connections strengthen the already robust ecosystem of digital assets, which includes anything from merchant settlements and tokenized bank deposits to card programs with crypto businesses that let consumers spend their crypto holdings.

Mastercard's next big bet is the company's Multi-Token Network (MTN) for the use of tokenized currency to facilitate digital transactions.

For the benefit of online businesses, Mastercard is strengthening its payment infrastructure.

The firm on its website said that the MTN represents a cutting-edge solution for programmable payment services, leveraging private and secure blockchain technology.

Mastercard says that the objective is to transform the landscape of commercial bank currency by enhancing it with the efficiency and capabilities of digital assets.

Partnerships like the one between Mastercard and Chainlink are attracting a new generation of crypto asset consumers by making the technology more accessible and practical in everyday life.