Mastercard Brings Real Identity to Web3 – Polygon Chosen as First Network

Mastercard has taken a major step toward making crypto payments feel as effortless as sending money through traditional apps - and it chose Polygon as the foundation.

The company has officially tapped Polygon to launch its first blockchain-powered system for human-readable wallet identities, a feature that replaces long, error-prone wallet addresses with simple, verified usernames.

Instead of copying and pasting long strings of characters, users will soon be able to send crypto to a confirmed alias. These aliases are issued by payment infrastructure firm Mercuryo, which will handle identity checks and attach each username to a wallet through standard KYC verification.

Once verified, users can request a soulbound token on Polygon – a permanent on-chain marker showing that the wallet belongs to a legitimate owner. This allows transfers to be validated without exposing personal data.

Mastercard’s choice of Polygon wasn’t accidental. The network’s speed, low fees, and proven reliability made it the company’s preferred starting point for a system that must process identity signals and payment requests without delay. The plan is to expand this credential layer across multiple chains, but Polygon will serve as the first proving ground.

The initiative fits into Mastercard’s broader effort to merge traditional financial standards with self-custody tools in Web3. By giving users simple, verified identities and reducing the friction of wallet-to-wallet transactions, Mastercard hopes to make decentralized payments feel familiar, safe, and accessible to mainstream users – and Polygon is the chain helping bring that vision to life.