Mastercard Doubles Down on Crypto—Teams With OKX to Launch Stablecoin Payment Card

Another day, another legacy finance giant dipping its toes—or maybe just a pinky toe—into crypto waters. Mastercard’s latest move? Expanding stablecoin support and partnering with exchange heavyweight OKX to roll out a crypto-linked payment card.

Why it matters: When payment processors start playing nice with stablecoins, it’s either a sign of mainstream adoption or a desperate bid to stay relevant in the Web3 era (jury’s still out).

The fine print: Users can now spend USDC and other dollar-pegged tokens wherever Mastercard is accepted—because nothing says ’financial revolution’ like using blockchain to buy a frappuccino.

Bottom line: Traditional finance keeps cutting deals with crypto firms while pretending they weren’t calling it a scam three years ago. Progress? Maybe. Irony? Definitely.

Mastercard, OKX Partner to Launch ‘OKX Card’

The payments firm is also launching a crypto card in partnership with OKX crypto exchange. Dubbed “OKX Card,” the product leverages OKX’s leadership in crypto trading, providing millions with easy access to their funds.

“Mastercard and OKX will explore new opportunities to help people meaningfully engage with digital assets,” the release noted.

Further, Mastercard’s initiative covers a full range of stablecoin use cases, including wallet enablement and card issuance to merchant settlement and on-chain remittances. The firm has previously partnered with crypto exchanges, including Kraken, Crypto.com and Binance, to allow stablecoin payments via traditional cards.

The firm also launched its Multi-Token Network (MTN) in 2023, that facilitates real-time settlements and redemptions of tokenized assets.

Stablecoin Market is Expected to See Massive $2 Trillion Surge

With the US lawmakers introducing the bipartisan GENIUS Act to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, the asset class is gaining traction among mainstream payments and institutional adoption.

Standard Chartered Bank recently predicted that the size of the stablecoin market could go up by about 10-fold to $2 trillion within the next three years.

“US legislation on stablecoins would further legitimise the stablecoin industry,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at the London-based bank, and two other strategists, wrote in a report. “This has implications for both US Treasury buying (for reserve purposes) and USD hegemony.”