#MastercardStablecoinCards Mastercard has forged a partnership with MoonPay to strengthen its presence in the crypto asset payment sector.
The cards will utilize the technology of Iron, a company that was acquired by MoonPay.
Payment giants are taking note of the growing demand for stablecoins.
Recently, a collaboration between MoonPay and Mastercard was announced to launch cards linked to stablecoins, which can be used in over 150 million merchants around the world. According to the MoonPay team, each wallet will have access to these new cards powered by stablecoins, thus facilitating the buying, selling, and exchanging of crypto assets in a more accessible way.
According to an official statement from Mastercard, the new cards will be based on infrastructure developed by Iron, a firm acquired by MoonPay in March. The goal is to enable companies and other players in the payment ecosystem to manage their disbursements more practically and efficiently, overcoming the limitations of international transfers; it also aims to facilitate stablecoin payments to temporary workers, contractors, and content creators.
Regarding this collaboration, the CEO and founder of MoonPay, Ivan Soto-Wright, highlighted: "MoonPay works with the largest crypto wallets in the industry and, along with Mastercard, we are bringing reliable and easy-to-use stablecoin-enabled cards for users around the world... Our acquisition of Iron and the relationship with Mastercard will allow us to drive a new era of stablecoin payments in over 150 million merchants."
This trend towards the integration of stablecoins into traditional payment systems is not limited to Mastercard and MoonPay. In parallel, Visa has also begun to move in this direction through a strategic alliance with Bridge, a fintech recently acquired by Stripe. Together, they have selected a series of financial platforms to issue Visa cards linked to stablecoins, with a strong initial focus on Latin America.
In fact, one of the first platforms to join Visa's initiative was Airtm, which announced the upcoming launch of its own stablecoin-based card. Although not all details have been confirmed yet, a promotional image revealed a design that includes the initials of USDC, suggesting that this will be the main currency at the time of debut. This was reported by CriptoNoticias.
On the other hand, these companies also have projects that focus more on privacy and decentralization. An example of this is the Dolphin Card, a new VISA card announced by Aqua and JAN3 that allows payments with bitcoin without the need to go through KYC processes ("Know Your Customer"). This approach particularly targets users in unbanked regions, such as Latin America, where access to formal financial services remains limited.
The growing interest of giants like Mastercard and Visa in integrating stablecoins into their global payment networks reflects a profound shift in the way we conceive finance. In this context, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, recently highlighted that these solutions are not intended for countries with access to platforms like PayPal or Venmo, but for the hundreds of millions of people in emerging economies, where monetary stability is little more than an illusion.
What Ardoino raises is key, as this expansion responds to an increasingly visible reality: in many regions, particularly in Latin America, distrust towards traditional banking systems has led millions to seek alternatives. According to data from Bitfinex, in 2024 Latin America was the second region with the highest growth in cryptocurrency usage, with a year-on-year increase of 42.5%. However, it is worth asking to what extent these new cards are really as accessible and secure as they seem. Although the possibility of making fast and frictionless payments is attractive, that convenience does not come without costs.
Not everything that glitters is gold. While there are cases like the Dolphin Card, most of these cards require users to keep their funds on centralized platforms subject to strict regulations, which introduces a layer of surveillance and dependency. Each transaction is recorded and easily traceable by financial and governmental entities, which can lead to legal or tax issues, especially in contexts of high political instability; there are also significant structural risks: the history of hacks in exchanges and centralized custodians, such as the recent case of Bybit, shows that these services are not free from vulnerabilities. Given this landscape, it is essential for users to understand the balance between ease of use and control.
By Gustavo López (Cripto Noticias), May 15, 2025