Chainlink price jumps 11% amid major Mastercard partnership

• Chainlink and Mastercard are collaborating to enable over 3 billion cardholders to buy crypto onchain
• LINK rose 11% amid the Mastercard partnership and broader crypto optimism
• Chainlink’s growth in the tokenised assets market continues.

Chainlink’s native token, LINK, soared 11% today, buoyed by a groundbreaking partnership with Mastercard.

While gains mirrored broader crypto market upside, the news that Chainlink and Mastercard are looking to bring direct crypto purchases to over 3 billion cardholders added to the upbeat sentiment around LINK.

Chainlink and Mastercard partner

As with many other similar collaborations, this one between Chainlink and Mastercard marks a significant step toward mainstream adoption of decentralised finance (DeFi).

The two companies said in a press release that their integration looks to bridge traditional finance with blockchain technology. Chainlink’s infrastructure will play a pivotal role in this transformative integration.

Other than leveraging Chainlink’s interoperability protocol and data standards, the partnership will also tap into key platforms and protocols, including zerohash, Shift4 Payments, and XSwap.

“There’s no doubt about it – people want to be able to easily connect to the digital assets ecosystem, and vice versa. That’s why we continue to leverage our proven expertise and global payments network to bridge the gap between onchain commerce and offchain transactions,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain & Digital Assets at Mastercard. “In coming together with Chainlink, we’re unlocking a secure and innovative way to revolutionise onchain commerce and drive the broader adoption of crypto assets.”

LINK price gains

As noted, Chainlink’s price experienced a robust 11% surge in 24 hours, climbing from a low of $11.48. This aligned with crypto’s bounce on Israel-Iran ceasefire news and also reflected strong market enthusiasm for the Mastercard partnership.

As of writing, LINK was trading at $13.07, with bulls looking to break towards $20.

The partnership’s announcement and broader market tailwinds, including the recently passed GENIUS Act, could catalyse gains.

Indeed, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov recently noted that the US stablecoin law could boost LINK adoption by supporting stablecoin innovation.

“This is the type of traditional finance and decentralised finance convergence that Chainlink was built to make possible,” Nazarov noted. “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 onchain decentralised exchanges.”

Solutions like Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and proof-of-reserve technology are seen as critical for tokenised assets, and could potentially drive LINK price higher.