Mastercard Expands Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities

Mastercard has announced an expansion of its stablecoin settlement capabilities, enabling issuers and acquirers to settle credit card transactions in regulated stablecoins. This move is part of Mastercard's push for a true 24/7 economy, with the company partnering with Circle, Ripple, and others to enable on-chain settlement.

The expanded capabilities will allow for intraday, holiday, and weekend settlements, providing greater flexibility for partners managing liquidity and operating in an always-on digital economy. This is according to Mastercard EVP of Blockchain and Digital Assets Raj Dhamodharan, who stated that the next phase of stablecoin adoption is about real-world utility, particularly in settlement.

Mastercard has existing relationships with Circle and Ripple, which have already been used for settlement in select markets. The company will also support stablecoin settlement from Paxos-issued tokens like PYUSD, USDG, and USDP, as well as SoFiUSD, the newly launched dollar-backed token from neobank SoFi.

Settlement will be enabled on a handful of blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, payments-focused network Tempo, the XRP Ledger, and Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase. Mastercard expects further expansion throughout the remainder of the year, with initial support for transactions in the US and Latin America through partners like ARQ (formerly DolarApp), CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei.