Mastercard announced its partnership with MoonPay to launch a stablecoin payment card, enabling users to transact in stablecoins at over 150 million merchants worldwide. This card automatically converts stablecoins to local currency during transactions, streamlining the payment process.
Key Features:
- Global acceptance: The card can be used at approximately 150 million merchants worldwide that accept Mastercard.
- Stablecoin conversion: Stablecoins are automatically converted to local currency during transactions, ensuring seamless integration with existing financial systems.
- Partnership background: Mastercard's partnership with MoonPay leverages Iron technology, a stablecoin payment platform acquired by MoonPay in March 2025.
Mastercard's cryptocurrency strategy:
- Expanding access to cryptocurrencies: Mastercard is enhancing its presence in the digital asset space through partnerships with cryptocurrency exchanges and payment processors.
- Comprehensive stablecoin capabilities: Mastercard unveiled comprehensive stablecoin capabilities, enabling consumers to spend stablecoins and merchants to receive them.
- Recent partnerships: Mastercard has partnered with OKX, Nuvei, and Circle to enhance payment systems and develop merchant acceptance solutions for stablecoin payments.
Regulatory landscape:
- Clarification on stablecoins: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarified that some stablecoins referred to as "covered stablecoins" are not considered securities under federal law.
- Regulatory uncertainty: Despite this clarification, regulatory ambiguity still surrounds yield-bearing stablecoins and algorithmic stablecoins.