Let 3 billion people directly "swipe their cards to buy coins"! Crypto Assets cards vs. traditional payments: who will laugh last?

On the long journey of Web3 towards the mainstream, "payment" has always been the most anticipated yet also the most challenging track. For a long time, the industry's dream has been to build a seamless bridge that allows ordinary people to use encryption assets in the real world as easily as using a credit card. In June 2025, this dream seemed to welcome two completely opposite footnotes. On one side, payment giant Mastercard, in collaboration with oracle leader Chainlink, announced a grand blueprint to enable direct "card-to-crypto" transactions for over 3 billion cardholders worldwide. On the other side, however, the well-regarded U-card star service provider Infini announced the complete shutdown of all its card payment services, causing an uproar in the community. On one side are the ambitions of traditional financial giants, and on the other side are the helpless exits of Web3 native explorers. This scene of contrasting extremes inevitably leads us to pose a profound question: The financial card, which is seen as a tool for the mainstream adoption of encryption, is it a broad avenue towards mass adoption, or is it destined to be a transitional product that is "choked" by the traditional financial system? grand vision Recently, payment giant Mastercard and blockchain oracle project Chainlink jointly announced that they have reached a strategic partnership aimed at breaking down the barriers between fiat currency and the on-chain economy. The core goal of this collaboration is to enable over 3 billion Mastercard cardholders worldwide to directly use their credit cards to securely and compliantly purchase encryption assets on the blockchain. This is not a simple cooperation statement; behind it is an extremely complex technology and compliance integration plan. According to the information disclosed by both parties, the system is connected by Chainlink, integrating multiple partners including Zerohash (responsible for compliance and custody), Swapper Finance (providing decentralized trading paths), and Shift4 Payments (responsible for backend payment authorization). Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov admitted that this is an "incredibly intricate and interwoven technological collaboration," and its successful implementation is a key milestone achieved through multi-party cooperation. The significance of this step is extremely far-reaching. In the past, the main function of mainstream cryptocurrency co-branded cards on the market was to "spend currency"—to convert the cryptocurrency assets in users' wallets into fiat currency in real-time for card consumption. However, the new pathway created by Mastercard and Chainlink goes against this trend, allowing credit cards to become a direct "entry point for buying currency." This means that in the future, users may no longer need to go through the cumbersome steps of registering on exchanges, KYC verification, bank transfers, and so on to purchase cryptocurrency. Instead, they can simply enter their card number, just like shopping on Amazon. This move directly targets billions of existing cardholders worldwide and represents the greatest attempt so far to bring cryptocurrency to mainstream users. Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard, emphasized: "Global users are looking for a smoother connection to the encryption asset ecosystem, and we are paving a safe and innovative path to reshape the possibilities of on-chain commerce and accelerate the acceptance of encryption assets in mainstream markets." The entry of Mastercard seems to signal the imminent arrival of a "mainstream era" of encryption payments dominated by traditional financial giants. However, almost at the same time, another piece of news casts a shadow of reality over this beautiful vision. harsh reality Infini, a new encryption bank headquartered in Hong Kong, has received widespread praise in the Asian cryptocurrency community for its U Card, which features a simple interface, stable financial returns, and a smooth payment experience, and was once regarded as a model for Web3 payment implementation. However, in June, Infini suddenly announced in its official community that it would immediately shut down all card payment services. The reason behind this decision reveals the core dilemma currently faced by the encryption financial card sector. Infini co-founder Christine candidly stated in the community that shutting down the card business was due to extremely helpless business considerations: "The reason is that compliance costs are extremely high, profits are extremely thin, and operations are extremely burdensome. Currently, the to C (consumer-facing) card business occupies 99% of the time and costs, contributing 0 revenue." She compared this reliance on the traditional financial system of the encryption card business to a beautifully designed "iPod nano"; although it looks beautiful, it will ultimately be replaced by a more revolutionary Web3 native solution like the "iPhone." Well-known blockchain media personality Colin Wu commented: "The U card is indeed difficult, with the neck stuck in traditional finance; no matter how good your traffic experience is, it is of no use at all." This statement sharply points out the crux of the issue. The so-called "neck stuck" is specifically reflected in the following several aspects: Cost Black Hole: If Web3 startups want to issue financial cards that can be used globally, they still have to rely on core clearing networks like Visa or Mastercard, and cannot bypass layers of intermediaries such as issuing banks and acquiring institutions. Each layer of intermediaries charges fees, resulting in operational costs that are much higher than traditional credit cards. Profit Dilemma: To compete with Web2 credit cards and attract users, encryption card companies often need to offer fee reductions or even cash back. Given their own high costs, this means that every additional transaction leads to more losses. This "burn money subsidy" model is simply unsustainable for startups without strong capital. Compliance Maze: The entire process also involves extremely complicated regulations, risk control, KYC (Know Your Customer), and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) reviews. These compliance steps not only consume a large amount of manpower and resources but also significantly reduce the flexibility of the product. The experience of Infini proves that even if a team has excellent product design and execution capabilities, as long as the core path of its business is firmly controlled by the traditional financial system, it is likely to be forced to transform due to the inability to bear the high "toll fees". Imitate Web2 or create Web3? The grand vision of Mastercard and the exit of Infini perfectly represent two distinctly different paths in the field of cryptocurrency payments, along with the opportunities and challenges they each face. Path 1: Top-down integration (Mastercard model) Dominated by traditional financial giants, utilizing their existing vast networks, user bases, and compliance capabilities to "integrate" encryption assets into the existing system. The advantage of this model is its ability to quickly reach mainstream audiences, but the downside is that the rules of the game are entirely dictated by traditional giants, and the core advantages of Web3, such as decentralization and low costs, will be significantly weakened. Path Two: Bottom-Up Revolution (Infini's New Direction) Led by a Web3 native team, after realizing that the "borrowed path" of traditional finance was not viable, they turned their focus to developing fully decentralized, bank-independent encryption native solutions. Infini emphasized in the announcement that in the future it will "abandon centralized paths," fully embrace decentralized payment solutions, and focus on products like asset management that can better leverage the advantages of Web3. The retreat of Infini is not a failure of encryption payments, but rather an expensive market education. It tells all Web3 entrepreneurs: trying to replicate a Web2 product within the framework of traditional finance is likely a dead end. The real revolution may not be about making cryptocurrencies more like credit cards, but about creating a completely new financial interaction logic that is not "choked." The Mastercard plan is undoubtedly exciting, as it could become an important gateway for hundreds of millions of users to initially explore the encryption world in the coming years. However, in the long run, the vast ocean of Web3 still relies on those explorers who can break free from old constraints and create native application scenarios. The story of Infini is a clear and necessary turn in this great exploration.