Mastercard Inc ( MA ) shares are trading higher by 2.06% to $553.54 Tuesday morning following the announcement of a partnership with Chainlink.

What To Know: Per Mastercard ( MA ), the collaboration aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the evolving world of decentralized finance (DeFi).

This new initiative will allow Mastercard’s global network of cardholders to directly purchase cryptocurrencies onchain. The partnership leverages Chainlink’s secure interoperability infrastructure to facilitate a seamless fiat-to-crypto conversion process.

The collaboration involves several key players in the digital asset space. ZeroHash will provide the necessary onchain service and liquidity for converting fiat to crypto.

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Swapper Finance and XSwap are developing the user application experience, with payment processing giant Shift4 enabling smooth card transactions. The entire ecosystem will utilize the popular Uniswap protocol for sourcing liquidity from decentralized exchanges.

Additionally, Mastercard ( MA ) is partnering with Fiserv to integrate the new FIUSD stablecoin across its vast network, enabling its potential use for payments and settlement at over 150 million merchants worldwide.

What Else: This strategic move by Mastercard ( MA ) signals a significant step towards mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, directly connecting its billions of users to the onchain economy.

The partnership is a major development for the DeFi sector, providing a secure and regulated pathway for traditional payment users to enter the digital asset marketplace.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, MA has a 52-week high of $594.71 and a 52-week low of $428.86.

How To Buy MA Stock

Besides going to a brokerage platform to purchase a share – or fractional share – of stock, you can also gain access to shares either by buying an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds the stock itself, or by allocating yourself to a strategy in your 401(k) that would seek to acquire shares in a mutual fund or other instrument.

For example, in Mastercard’s case, it is in the Financials sector. An ETF will likely hold shares in many liquid and large companies that help track that sector, allowing an investor to gain exposure to the trends within that segment.

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