Catenaa, Tuesday, April 29, 2025-Mastercard yesterday announced in a media release it would enable consumers to spend stablecoins and allow merchants to receive settlements in them, expanding its footprint in the growing digital asset space.
The payments giant said it is rolling out a “360-degree approach” to stablecoin use, letting consumers pay, earn rewards, and spend stablecoins at over 150 million Mastercard-accepting merchant locations worldwide.
Users will also be able to withdraw stablecoins into their bank accounts via Mastercard Move, the company’s new service for digital assets.
Mastercard also plans to launch a co-branded payment card in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange OKX.
The company is also working with stablecoin issuers Circle, which produces USDC, and Paxos to facilitate merchant transactions in stablecoins.
Mastercard’s move comes as Congress weighs new legislation aimed at regulating and promoting the use of stablecoins.
The growing legislative clarity is prompting major financial players, including banks, to prepare for entry into the US dollar-pegged stablecoin market.
“When it comes to blockchain and digital assets, the benefits for mainstream use cases are clear,” said Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, said in a press release.
“We believe in the potential of stablecoins to streamline payments and commerce across the value chain,” he said.
Earlier this month, Bleap entered a strategic partnership with Mastercard to integrate stablecoin payments into traditional financial systems.
Mastercard already is already collaborating with MetaMask, Baanx, Ledger, and Argent on similar crypto-linked payment initiatives.
The USD stablecoin market now exceeds $230 billion and is expected to grow into the trillions.
Stablecoins handled over $5.1 trillion in global transactions in the first half of 2024, according to Bitwise analysts.
Mastercard’s latest initiative is seen by analysts as a significant step toward mainstream adoption of blockchain-based financial solutions.
Compared to other plastic cards available on the market Master Card is the only card leading in adopting crypto currencies and other new technologies.
