If we’ve learned one thing about the crypto space in the past year, it’s this: Trust matters.
In the wake of fiascos like FTX, Celsius and Three Arrows Capital, many people are understandably less likely to blindly trust a crypto company. Perhaps crypto was once the “Wild, Wild West,” but now there’s an emphasis on compliance, solid bookkeeping and assurances that a company is on the up-and-up. Anarchy is out, order is in.
One way to earn trust is to get vetted by a reputable financial institution. Which is why it’s notable that Alchemy Pay, a gateway between fiat and crypto, has been given the stamp of approval, of sorts, by a trusted brand in finance: Mastercard.
Specifically, Alchemy Pay has been approved and added to Mastercard’s SDP Compliant Registered Service Provider List. SDP stands for “Site Data Protection,” as in keeping customer data safe and secure. This provider list is packed with other well-known names in the payment space, including Amazon, Google and J.P. Morgan. Each of these Mastercard clients is obligated to comply with Mastercard’s rules and standards. Translation? This gives customers confidence that the company is legit.
“Our inclusion in the Mastercard SDP Program demonstrates our commitment to operating within the bounds of regulatory frameworks,” said Robert McCracken, Alchemy Pay’s Ecosystem Lead. “Ultimately though, it’s the consumer that benefits from seamless access to blockchain finance via global payment standards like Mastercard.”
Earlier in the year, Alchemy Pay was listed by another blue chipper as a payment service provider: Visa. This aligns with Alchemy Pay’s mission of being a gateway, or bridge, that facilitates transactions between fiat and cryptocurrency. Visa and Mastercard are pillars of the fiat world, so working with them makes the “on-ramps” and “off-ramps” smoother.
And this mission is now global. “Mastercard has been a key component in our global payment network’s success, and we are now more global than ever,” said McCracken. With Alchemy Pay, Visa and Mastercard cardholders can use fiat to purchase cryptocurrencies in 173 countries. This is not a tiny market, as Visa has roughly 3.9 billion cardholders while Mastercard has 1.55 billion worldwide. Suddenly crypto is easier for the average person to get across the planet – even if they don’t live in a wealthier nation.
At its core, Alchemy Pay’s goals are pretty simple: to connect crypto to everyday people, to make it easier to use and to remove the headaches of swapping fiat for bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies or even NFTs. Because even after NFTs went mainstream – minted by celebrities like Paris Hilton, Eminem and Tom Brady – they could still be a hassle to buy. So to crack these problems, Alchemy Pay enhanced its on-ramp and off-ramp solutions and introduced NFT Checkout, which means you can use Mastercard to buy an NFT.
With Alchemy Pay, buying crypto or NFTs can be done with just a single click, the same way you’d buy anything else. Of course, this is only possible because you know the company has been vetted, abides by all the laws and regulations and is safe to do business with. In other words, you can do it because of one simple concept: Trust.
The story is also featured on Coindesk.
