Mastercard and Polygon have joined forces to release verified, username-style aliases to replace complicated alpha-numeric wallet addresses. The initiative is aimed at making self custody wallets more secure and suited for mainstream adoption. The partnership was officially announced on Tuesday, November 18.
Mastercard said this development marks an extension to its Crypto Credential service that was debuted in April 2023. The service, as explained by Microsoft, standardizes blockchain addresses into a readable format, ideal for humans. With its Polygon partnership, these crypto credentials will now be based on the Polygon blockchain.
Digital token infrastructure provider Mercuryo has been finalized as the initial issuer of these credentials. It will be responsible for verifying those looking to create crypto credentials from Mastercard for their self-custodial wallets and help them create their aliases.
“By streamlining wallet addresses and adding meaningful verification, Mastercard Crypto Credential is building trust in digital token transfers,” said Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard.
Mastercard has cited Polygon’s speed, security, and payments-ready architecture to select it to power this service.
Commenting on partnering with Mastercard, Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron said, “We’re proving that blockchain networks can deliver the scale, speed, and reliability that mainstream financial services demand. The success of Web3 will come as blockchain becomes invisible—when the infrastructure simply works for billions of users.”
The companies are looking to observe if this service helps enterprises adopt self custodial wallets with simple, self-chosen wallet addresses.
“One name. All your wallets. Way less stress,” Mercuryo posted on X sharing the development.
Decentralized domain name platform called the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has been offering a similar service since 2017. It helps users change their complicated Ethereum addresses into simple, human-readable formats.