Mastercard plans to settle card payments in regulated stablecoins across eight blockchains, including the XRP Ledger, in a push toward round-the-clock on-chain transactions.
Key Points:
❯ Mastercard will route card settlement through regulated stablecoins on eight separate blockchains. ❯ Supported tokens include Circle's USDC, Ripple's RLUSD and Paxos-issued PYUSD. ❯ The first phase covers parts of the United States and Latin America, with expansion set through 2026.
Mastercard Adds Stablecoin Card Settlement
The payments giant said Wednesday it will let card issuers and acquirers clear transactions directly on-chain. The stablecoin rails sit beside its current fiat process rather than replace it, and the option stays voluntary. Existing security checks, fraud safeguards and dispute processes all carry over to the new rails.
Supported tokens include Circle's USDC (USDC), Ripple's RLUSD (RLUSD) and Paxos-issued PYUSD (PYUSD). Two more Paxos coins and a SoFi-branded dollar token round out the lineup of six. Settlement will span eight networks, among them Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and the XRP Ledger.
ARQ, formerly DolarApp, joins Cross River, Lead Bank, Nuvei and CBW Bank as the first to switch on the service. Early activity centers on parts of the United States and Latin America, where rules already allow it. The company plans to add more regions, partners and tokens through 2026.
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Dhamodharan Frames Settlement Timing
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets, framed the change as the next phase of stablecoin use. He said timing and liquidity matter most in settlement, the stage where money actually moves between institutions. Intraday and weekend options, he added, help partners manage cash in an always-on economy.
Ripple quickly welcomed the addition of its dollar token. Jack McDonald, its senior vice president of stablecoins, called the inclusion a sign of growing demand for regulated coins on public chains. The endorsement follows a recent pilot in which Ripple and Mastercard settled tokenized Treasuries on the XRP Ledger.
Card payments clear in an instant. Yet the final hand-off between banks has long run on fixed schedules, often pausing over nights, weekends and holidays. On-chain settlement lets that last step proceed at any hour, trimming the lag in cross-border payments and treasury flows.
Mastercard's Wider Crypto Push
The plan caps a busy stretch for the company. Mastercard agreed in March to buy stablecoin firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, then secured a BitLicense from New York regulators in May. Those moves pushed it deeper into digital-asset infrastructure well before Wednesday's announcement.
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