Mastercard has inked another partnership with a crypto company to provide stablecoin-powered cards, enabling users and businesses to make and receive payments in stablecoins worldwide. Working with MoonPay, the rollout will rely on infrastructure from Iron, a stablecoin payment firm acquired by MoonPay in March. Transactions will be automatically converted into fiat.
Stablecoins have become popular tools in crypto trading and payments for their price stability, as each is pegged to a fiat cy such as the U.S. dollar. But regulatory clarity remains elusive in many jurisdictions. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance last month indicating some stablecoins aren’t securities, but left questions unanswered about yield-bearing and algorithmic variants. It also dropped an investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin at the end of April.
Despite the regulatory fog, card networks are doubling down on stablecoin rails, betting on their utility in remittances, creator economies, and cross-border commerce. The latest announcement adds to Mastercard’s expanding roster of crypto collaborations. In April, the payments giant partnered with crypto exchange OKX and processor Nuvei on a similar project. OKX will launch a new crypto card, while Nuvei, in partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle, will provide merchant infrastructure.
Mastercard projects also one-up a recent initiative from its competitor Visa, which on May 1 announced a pilot program allowing customers in six Latin American countries to transact in stablecoins. Visa’s rollout, which covers Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile, will let users pay with stablecoins from existing balances. It is expected to later expand to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
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