Card brands are preparing to work with stablecoins and prevent this type of token from pushing them out of the market.
A territorial war is forming in the vast world of digital payments — and traditional companies are suddenly on the defensive.
Tech companies and cryptocurrency startups are invading territory long dominated by Visa and Mastercard, driven by a new type of currency — stablecoins — and an argument that merchants cannot ignore: lower fees, faster settlement, and a way to completely bypass the two giants of the industry.
It’s a technological and financial threat. Digital tokens, which are typically pegged to the dollar, allow consumers to pay merchants directly from their cryptocurrency wallets — without routing payments through a bank or card network. Just last year, companies in the United States paid about $187 billion in fees for card transactions, mostly through Visa and Mastercard systems. Stablecoins promise to make this cost much lower, or even eliminate it.
“It’s clear that, ultimately, this entire space could be a threat to traditional financial providers,” said Christian Catalini, founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab. “But credit card networks are not sitting idly by. Card networks will strive to work with many stablecoins to maintain their central role.”
This pressure is leading Visa and Mastercard to self-identify — not as outdated toll collectors — but as the backbone of all types of digital transactions, including those originally designed to avoid them. With American President Donald Trump ready to sign legislation creating formal federal oversight for stablecoin issuers, companies are offering cryptocurrency-linked cards and developing services for banks testing digital dollars.
Their influence continues in both directions. Visa and Mastercard have a long history of neutralizing competitive threats by absorbing them into their own networks, often in ways designed to preserve pricing power. By getting closer to stablecoins, this could prove just the latest feat of co-optation by the giants, with the stablecoin market valued today at $253 billion — and on track to reach $2 trillion in the coming years, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The fact that stablecoins are part of the narrative of financial disruption marks a rare break from the cryptocurrency industry’s reputation for speculation and gambling. In this sense, stablecoins offer something radical: a tool that can actually make financial systems work better, which finally guarantees the cryptocurrency community a socially useful function.
This push is starting to reshape corporate behavior. Large retailers like Walmart are considering stablecoin pilots, and earlier this month, banking technology provider Fiserv launched its own fiat-backed token to help smaller financial institutions keep pace with payment innovation.
Still, replacing card networks will not be easy, especially in the U.S., where consumers are accustomed to rewards programs, fraud protection, and access to credit — benefits that are hard to replace. Stablecoins offer limited advantages at the point of purchase, and for many, cryptocurrencies remain unknown or viewed with suspicion.
Even so, advocates of digital technology are advancing. Shopify recently partnered with Stripe and Coinbase to allow merchants to accept USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin from Circle. Behind the scenes, payment can occur without passing through any card network. Instead, it is processed entirely on a blockchain protocol, allowing merchants to accept USDC directly into their own cryptocurrency wallets or convert it instantly to local currency, credited to their bank account.