Mastercard Cuts Through the Noise—Now Lets Merchants Settle in Stablecoins
Another day, another legacy finance giant dipping its toes in crypto—but this time, it might actually matter. Mastercard’s new stablecoin settlement option gives merchants a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional rails. No more waiting days for cross-border payments to clear or losing 3% to intermediaries who still think SWIFT is cutting-edge tech.
Why this matters: It’s not about ’adoption’ anymore. It’s about which dinosaurs can pivot fast enough to avoid becoming oil. Stablecoins are eating the $150T payments industry for lunch—and Mastercard just handed merchants a fork.
The cynical take? Watch banks suddenly discover ’blockchain innovation’ now that their duopoly faces real competition. (Where was this energy when Bitcoin hit $1,000?)
Mastercard will work with OKX to launch a new card
Alongside the settlement option, Mastercard disclosed a plan with the crypto exchange OKX to issue a new card. The payment processor already works with MetaMask, Kraken, Gemini, Bybit, Crypto.com, Binance, Monavate, and Bleap.
The OKX Card by Mastercard will give customers direct access to their crypto balances. OKX said connecting its trading platform and Web3 tools to Mastercard’s network should make it easier to use stablecoins for everyday shopping. The firm has revealed plans to enable stablecoin spending using traditional cards at more than 150 million merchant locations.
On the business side, settlement is expanding through Nuvei and Circle. Merchants will be able to receive proceeds in Circle’s USD Coin, regardless of which payment method shoppers choose at checkout. A similar path is being prepared for tokens issued by Paxos.
To smooth cross-border transfers, Mastercard has rolled out Crypto Credential. Users on partner exchanges such as Wirex, Bit2Me, Lirium, Notabene, Coins.ph, and Mercado Bitcoin can send or receive digital money with simple usernames.
The payment processor also introduced the Multi-Token Network, or MTN, that ties ordinary deposit accounts to tokenized assets. Partners, including ONDO Finance, plus banks such as JPMorgan and Standard Chartered, are connected to MTN to test stablecoin and other digital assets.
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