Polygon Deploys Fiat On-ramps Via Alchemy Pay

November 8, 2021

Polygon Deploys Fiat On-ramps Via Alchemy Pay, Enabling Direct Fiat Payments For DeFi

The move will propel a phase of rapid growth for DeFi on Polygon by expanding capital inroads from Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Shopify and others.

Singapore, 8 November 2021 - Polygon, an Ethereum scaling platform onboarding millions to Web3, today announces the addition of convenient and flexible fiat payment onramps for the Polygon Network, thanks to a new partnership with Alchemy Pay.

Alchemy Pay will create a bridge between fiat and crypto payments by embedding into the Polygon Network, enabling any Polygon-based protocol to set up a fiat on-ramp. The new capability is expected to propel the next phase of growth for Polygon’s DeFi ecosystem.

More than 4,000 hosted applications within Polygon's DeFi ecosystem will now be able to enact transactions on their DeFi apps via direct fiat on-ramps to traditional financial payment platforms like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and multiple local payment channels around the world. The move will also simplify DeFi app payments on e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and other networks. Alchemy Pay currently handles $5 million daily transactions, primarily from Asia and Europe. A greater volume of US transactions is expected after Shopify completes integration with Polygon by the end of 2021.

Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, said: “DeFi protocols have been flourishing but challenges with Ethereum’s usability at a global scale have slowed development. Scaling solutions are vital to DeFi’s ability to go mainstream. Polygon is already solving the problem of Ethereum’s slow and costly transactions, and now thanks to Alchemy Pay, we can provide an essential gateway between fiat and crypto transactions. This development opens up new capital inroads that will propel users of polygon's DeFi ecosystem onto the next level in their commercial development.”

Polygon’s full-stack scaling solution is leading the way in reducing congestion on the Ethereum mainchain. In September, the number of daily active users on Polygon regularly surpassed those on Ethereum. Rather than being a competitor to Ethereum, however, Polygon facilitates the use of platforms on the Ethereum network.

Still, DeFi advocates recognize that Ethereum also needs to find more ways to accept fiat into the ecosystem. The network’s ability to handle transactions between fiat and cryptocurrencies will be crucial for attracting new users.

“The Integration of fiat payment options is key to the goal of a frictionless payment experience on crypto networks,” said John Tan, CEO of Alchemy Pay. “It will reduce the tendency of users to hold tokens long term, and make it more appealing to use them within decentralized apps. This, in turn, will appeal to developers who want to build DApps that people can actually use. Both Polygon and Alchemy Pay enable people to use blockchain apps and DeFi platforms rather than just speculate on the tokens.”

Kanani added: “With the hybrid crypto-fiat support of Alchemy Pay, Polygon now will have a much broader scope for development as well as a stronger appeal for adoption. By empowering Polygon and Ethereum with more seamless and flexible fiat-crypto payment channels, Alchemy Pay is supporting the DeFi sector at a fundamental level.”

Polygon and Alchemy Pay are also part of a newly-forming Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance (BIA) of industry infrastructure builders and leaders. The BIA is made up of crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers, DeFi platforms, payment solutions, and other essential roles to jointly promote and drive the growth and advance of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. The BIA funds blockchain research and nurtures projects that seek to optimise decentralised finance and blockchain infrastructure.

About Alchemy Pay

Alchemy Pay is an integrated fiat and cryptocurrency gateway solutions provider, powering seamless crypto and fiat acceptance for merchant networks, developers and financial institutions. The company drives adoption of blockchain technology by making crypto investment, commercial transactions, and DeFi services readily accessible to consumers and institutions in the fiat economy. Today, Alchemy Pay supports over 60 countries with 200 payment channels and has touchpoints with more than 2 million merchants through partnerships with industry giants such as Binance, Shopify, Arcadier, QFPay and more.

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