Mastercard on Wednesday launched a global Crypto Partner Program comprising more than 85 cryptocurrency companies, payments providers, and financial institutions.
The initiative includes Binance, Circle (USDC), Ripple (XRP), PayPal, Paxos, Gemini, BitGo, and Polygon, among others, and targets enterprise use cases - cross-border remittances, business-to-business transfers, payouts, and settlement - rather than retail consumer products.
The program is structured around direct collaboration between participants and Mastercard product teams, with partners helping to shape future services that combine on-chain tools with established card rails.
What Happened
Participants will engage with Mastercard teams on product design and strategic direction, the company said.
The program builds on existing infrastructure, including its Start Path blockchain accelerator, a dedicated cryptocurrency card program, and its Multi-Token Network - a settlement layer that The Block reported is already connected to JPMorgan for stablecoin transactions.
The participant list spans blockchain networks (Solana (SOL), Aptos (APT), Optimism (OP), Ava Labs, Polygon), custodians (Anchorage Digital, Fireblocks, BitGo), exchanges (Binance, Bybit, Gemini), and stablecoin and payments firms (Circle, Paxos, Ripple, MoonPay, PayPal). Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's executive vice president of Digital Asset Blockchain Products and Partnerships, described the goal as translating on-chain innovation into compliant, scalable use cases that integrate into everyday commerce.
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Why It Matters
Mastercard's move comes as its primary rival, Visa, has been expanding its own stablecoin infrastructure. Visa reached a $3.5 billion annualized USDC settlement run rate as of November 2025 and operates more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across 40 countries.
Earlier this month, Visa and Bridge - a Stripe subsidiary - announced plans to extend stablecoin-backed cards to more than 100 countries.
The program is, for now, a collaboration forum rather than a product launch. Whether Mastercard's coalition produces deployed infrastructure or remains a structured dialogue between industry stakeholders is the key question going forward.
The company did not disclose timelines for specific product releases tied to the initiative.
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