MasterCard adds Stablecoin settlement for card transactions
MasterCard has announced plans to expand its settlement capabilities to allow issuers and acquirers to settle certain card transactions using a regulated stablecoin.
On Wednesday, Mastercard said the new capabilities include support for day, weekend and holiday card settlements, both fiat currencies and onchain settlements in regulated stablecoins. The company said the new options are designed to give its partners more flexibility to manage settlement liquidity and timing.
The expansion will see major payment networks attempt to settle dollars as stablecoins enter mainstream financial infrastructure. It follows MasterCard's New York bitlicense in May, which will allow its U.S. merchant services division to conduct regulated digital asset transactions in the state.
The stablecoin settlement option supports Circle's USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG and USDP, Ripple's RLUSD and SoFi's SoFiUSD. MasterCard says its stablecoins will be enabled on supported blockchain networks including Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo and XRPL.
ARQ, formerly known as DollarApp, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank and Nuvey, is expected to be the first in the United States and Latin America to support the stablecoin settlement option, Mastercard said.
Stablecoin plays within the MasterCard ecosystem. Source: MasterCard
Payment organizations strengthen stablecoin integrations
MasterCard's settlement expansion with Statcoins follows a series of moves from major payments and remittance firms.
Visa said in April that after adding five blockchains to its stable coin settlement pilot, the annualized run rate of nine billion dollars reached 50% of the last quarter. The company said its expansion aims to provide more ways for issuers and buyers to agree with the network as statecoins move into mainstream payment flows.
The stablecoin market is currently estimated at $320 billion.
Related: Solana MasterCard, Western Union on New Dev platform
The remittance sector has plunged into a stable coin. On Tuesday, MoneyGram launched a US dollar stablecoin called MGUSD on Stellar, a token that supports treasury management settlements and remittances in the United States, ahead of a wider rollout worldwide.
In early May, Western Union launched the USDPT stablecoin, which will buy US dollars against the Solana in the Philippines and Bolivia, with plans to expand by 2026.
Magazine: Korea's First Memecoin Rag-Pull Case, Review of China's Crypto Regulations: Asia Express
