#MastercardStablecoinCards Mastercard and MoonPay Push Stablecoins From Wallets to Checkout

May 16 2025 | New York City

Mastercard has taken its most decisive step yet toward mainstreaming digital dollars: a new program that lets wallets issue virtual—or eventually plastic—Mastercard-branded debit cards that spend USDC and other regulated stablecoins at any of the network’s 150 million merchant locations worldwide. The service is powered by MoonPay’s recently acquired API provider Iron and marketed under the hashtag #MastercardStablecoinCards.

How the card works

Card issuing & spending. Any participating wallet, exchange, or neobank can spin up a Mastercard that draws directly from the user’s stablecoin balance. At the point of sale the crypto is converted to local fiat behind the scenes, so the merchant sees an ordinary Mastercard transaction.

Payout rails. Businesses can flip the flow and push stablecoin payouts—think creator earnings or gig-worker salaries—onto the same cards, improving cross-border speed and cutting traditional remittance fees.

Scale on day one. MoonPay already connects 500+ crypto platforms, giving the program potential reach into 100 million active crypto users and an addressable base of roughly 120 million wallets holding stablecoins today.

Why it matters

A 360-degree stablecoin play. The launch arrives just two weeks after Mastercard unveiled “end-to-end stablecoin capabilities”—wallet enablement, merchant settlement in USDC, on-chain remittances and its Multi-Token Network (MTN) for real-time redemption. Yesterday’s card announcement slots neatly into that broader roadmap.