Chainlink Price Prediction After Mastercard Opens Crypto Buying to 3.5B Users

Chainlink price hovered above $9.40 as the broader crypto market struggled to regain momentum. LINK was trading close to a major support level with bulls attempting to hold the rising channel structure. 

The shift came after Mastercard enabled 3.5 billion cardholders to purchase cryptocurrencies directly on-chain. Bitcoin continued to hover around $75,000, Ethereum at $2,087 and XRP around $1.35 as the crypto market consolidated.

Mastercard and Chainlink Open Onchain Crypto Buying to 3.5B Cardholders

Chainlink and Mastercard are promoting crypto access via card with a new onchain payment flow for retail crypto users around the world. 

The integration aims to enable more seamless and convenient transactions for cryptocurrency purchases using decentralized exchange platforms. 

The global payments network Mastercard supplies and the blockchain connectivity layer provided by Chainlink are responsible for the transaction process. The system aims at over 3.5 billion Mastercard cards in the world.

Mastercard and Chainlink are enabling 3.5 billion cardholders to purchase crypto directly onchain.@Mastercard’s global payments network + Chainlink’s industry-standard oracle platform = A secure, seamless onchain experience for billions pic.twitter.com/ZIHJufJycU

— Chainlink (@chainlink) May 26, 2026

The card-to-crypto purchase experience will be made user friendly by Swapper Finance. XSwap will execute payments via the Chainlink ecosystem to further bridge the gap between payment activity and blockchain settlement. 

The structure also employs Uniswap to gain entry to decentralized onchain liquidity for ultimate crypto purchases.

The partnership introduces a number of infrastructure providers to a unified payment stack. The purchase process is related to the compliance, custody and transaction services that will be provided by Zerohash. 

Card processing will be taken care of by Shift4, another traditional payments connection with the system.

The product will try to help users who are more apt to make payments via cards to buy directly cryptocurrency. Users can access onchain liquidity by a simplified checkout route instead of having to use centralized exchanges. 

The transfer also illustrates the strides that big payment companies are making in exploring more intimate ties with decentralized finance.

Chainlink Whale Wallets Hit Record High as LINK Holds Key Support

Data from Santiment reveals that LINK large wallets have hit a fresh milestone, with the number of these wallets exceeding an all-time high. The analytics firm noted that a total of 805 wallets contain at least 100,000 LINK tokens. Today, the equivalent sum is worth about $958,000 or more.

This uptick indicates greater activity among larger Chainlink holders in recent market consolidation. According to Santiment, wallets in this group have increased by 8.2% in the last seven weeks. That indicates that big investors have kept stacking positions even with price volatility.

The chart also indicates LINK trading around the $9.40 level as the whale wallet numbers rose. The trend here suggests that large holders could be buying up in anticipation of the price dropping further.

Chainlink Price Eyes $10 Breakout as LINK Holds Near Key Support

The LINK price traded at $9.36 on the 4-hour chart, staying below the $10 resistance zone. The momentum was weak on the token, as sellers held up the nearby breakout level.

On the downside, Chainlink has also encountered immediate resistance at $9.50 as the recent candles have failed to generate strong upward momentum. A clean move above this level could push the long-term LINK projection toward the next target at $10.00. 

The RSI was around 43, indicating the buyers were not very strong and the bull market momentum was weak. The MACD signal lines continued to be bearish and slightly below the neutral level.

On the negative side, LINK needs to stay above $9.00 to prevent further losses. If it fails to hold above this price, it may be subject to further selling pressure.