Mastercard Just Opened Its Payment Network to Stablecoins — Here’s What That Means

03-Jun-2026 CoinCentral

TLDR

  • Mastercard is adding stablecoin settlement to its global payments network, starting in the US and Latin America
  • Supported stablecoins include USDC, PYUSD, USDG, USDP, RLUSD, and SoFiUSD
  • Blockchains supported include Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, XRPL, Canton, and Tempo
  • Early participants include ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei
  • Mastercard’s US subsidiary MTS US has received a NYDFS BitLicense to support the rollout

Mastercard announced Wednesday that it is expanding its settlement infrastructure to include on-chain settlement using regulated stablecoins.

The move allows banks and payment companies on its network to settle transactions outside of traditional banking hours, including intraday, weekends, and holidays.

The company says the upgrade is designed to work alongside existing settlement systems, not replace them.

Six regulated stablecoins will be supported at launch: Circle’s USDC, Ripple’s RLUSD, and Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG, USDP, and SoFiUSD.

These assets will be available across eight blockchain networks: Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, XRPL, Canton, and Tempo.

Mastercard says the goal is to give financial institutions more flexibility in how they move and settle money, particularly for cross-border payments, treasury management, and business payouts.

Early Partners and Rollout

The first institutions expected to participate are ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei.

Deployments will begin in the United States and Latin America before expanding to other regions.

Cross River’s head of on-chain finance, Luca Cosentino, said the company has seen growing demand from partners for faster, more transparent settlement. He described stablecoins as a tool that meets that need.

Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said RLUSD’s inclusion reflects demand for regulated stablecoins built for real-world use on public blockchains like the XRP Ledger.

Paxos chief revenue officer Peter Jonas described the future of settlement as “programmable, instant and global,” adding that its regulated infrastructure gives partners a trusted path to on-chain settlement.

Regulatory Approval and Acquisitions

Mastercard’s US money transfer subsidiary, MTS US, has been granted a BitLicense by the New York Department of Financial Services.

The license allows MTS US to support settlement using stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

Mastercard said the approval reflects its focus on meeting regulatory standards in digital payments.

The company is also in the process of acquiring BVNK, a stablecoin payments infrastructure firm.

Combined with existing partnerships with Circle and Paxos, Mastercard is building out a broader stablecoin payments and settlement network.

The company framed this announcement as the next phase of its digital asset strategy, giving institutions access to both traditional and blockchain-based settlement through a single network.

The post Mastercard Just Opened Its Payment Network to Stablecoins — Here’s What That Means appeared first on CoinCentral.

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