Alchemy Pay, a prominent payment gateway, has recently announced a strategic collaboration with Lido, a decentralized staking protocol. This partnership is a significant milestone in bridging the gap between traditional finance and the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Its primary objective is to provide a fiat on-ramp for Lido’s stETH token.
With this integration, users from around the world can now conveniently purchase and sell stETH using their preferred payment methods and local fiat currencies. The aim is to enhance the overall user experience by incorporating Alchemy Pay’s efficient on and off-ramp services into Lido’s ecosystem. This will enable seamless transactions and improve accessibility to stETH, which is the liquid variant of staked ETH that earns daily staking rewards. This integration is crucial in promoting the use of stETH in various DeFi activities, such as providing liquidity on protocols like Curve and serving as collateral for loans on Aave.
In terms of global access and secure transactions, Alchemy Pay’s payment gateway supports a wide range of payment methods, including Visa and Mastercard transactions across 173 countries, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, domestic transfers, and mobile wallets in emerging markets. This extensive support ensures that Lido users have global accessibility and offers high conversion rates with minimal fees when acquiring stETH. The simplified process of buying and selling crypto with domestic currencies makes digital asset transactions as straightforward as any regular online payment.
Furthermore, Alchemy Pay has obtained multiple licenses associated with payment services in various countries, including the UK, the United States, Canada, Indonesia, and Lithuania. They are also actively pursuing additional licenses in Hong Kong and Singapore. Recognized by Visa and Mastercard as an authorized third-party service provider, Alchemy Pay adheres to strict compliance and regulatory standards, establishing itself as a reliable fiat-crypto payment gateway that ensures smooth and secure transactions for both individual users and business partners.
Lido’s innovative approach to decentralized staking allows users to mint transferable staking tokens and receive rewards linked to validator activities on Ethereum and Polygon networks. The Lido protocol batches user tokens to stake with validators and routes staking packages to network staking contracts. With a total of $29.7 billion currently staked, Lido is at the forefront of promoting secure and decentralized staking solutions.
The partnership between Alchemy Pay and Lido goes beyond technical integration. It signifies a step towards a more interconnected and accessible blockchain ecosystem. By enabling easy and secure access to stETH through familiar payment methods, Alchemy Pay and Lido are paving the way for broader adoption of DeFi practices and enhancing the utility of staked assets.