In today’s Finds, we explain why Mastercard bets on stablescoins and how it could change the way money moves.
The story
If we were to imagine crypto And traditional finance in the same room, we probably imagine two neighbors who awkwardly avoid visual contact. One is a question of centralized rules, audits and control while the other concerns decentralization, anonymity and price oscillations.
But it changes. Because now Mastercard has decided to open its doors to Stablecoins. Yes, the same mastercard quietly seated on your debit or credit and manipulation cards 170 billion card transactions per year.
It is in partnership with Some large Crypto companies – OKX, Metamask, Binance, Crypto.com. These are only portfolios and cryptocurrency exchanges used by millions. And thanks to the new mastercard partnerships, users of these platforms will be able to spend stablecoins in one of the 150 million merchants who accept Mastercard worldwide. Merchants do not have to convert these parts to dollars or rupees. They can choose to settle directly in stablecoins. And for someone again in this area and nervous at the idea of sending money to a frightening cryptographic address like 0x9a81cd12d6ff … (the way in which Crypto funds), Mastercard, proposed a simpler solution called Crypto Credential. You know, like @ monish.eth or @ summan.matic. Much easier.
And just like that, a deeply traditional payment company has now decided to behave on stabbed.
Which raises the question… why now?
Let’s take it up.
First, let’s go Talking about stablecoins. These are digital tokens set for a real currency – usually the US dollar. The agreement is simple: 1 Stablecoin = 1 dollar. You give the transmitter a dollar, it gives you a Stablecoin token. It could be anything to Tether (USDT), Circle (USDC), Ethena (USDE), etc. And when you return the token, they make the dollar.
Unlike Bitcoin, which can swing 10% in an hour, the stablecoins are … stable. A part is equivalent to a dollar. Always. And that makes them perfect for things like sending money, paying bills or establishing businesses. An easy way to understand them is to imagine a token that behaves like crypto (without border, anonymous, decentralized, fast), but which looks like money.
And they catch up quickly. The total stablecoin offer increased from 2 billion in 2019 to more than 200 billion in 2025. In 2024, the total volume of stable transfer reached the end 27 billions of dollars. It’s more than combined visa and mastercard!
And it is not only the utility that stimulates this boom. It is also money behind money.
See, when you buy a stablecoin, the transmitter does not hide your dollar under a mattress. They generally invest it in US treasury bills – safe state bonds which currently give around 4%. Thus, when a company like Circle (which manages the USDC Stablecoin) seated on tens of billions of dollars in customer funds, this interest is added rapidly. In fact, the circle is $ 1.6 billion Last year. Just in parking for customer funds in treasury bills. And today, stablecoin issuers like Circle and Tether are among the Top 20 holders American government debt.
And if all this was not enough, the rules are so caught up.
Governments put stablescoins under formal surveillance. The United States is working on legislation that would oblige transmitters to be fully authorized, regularly audited and to keep 100%equivalent reserves. The dry of Thailand even approved the USDC and the USDT for exchanges on local scholarships.
There is therefore usefulness, regulations, momentum and a lot of money.
This is the reason why Mastercard does not want to miss this bus.
And it is not alone. Paypal jumped last year with its own stablecoin – Pyusd, and baked it in Venmo, Paypal Fund, etc. But the Paypal model is a bit of an enclosed garden. Everything happens in its own ecosystem.
Mastercard, on the other hand, plays the role of the connector. He does not want to issue a room. He just wants to allow you to spend any stablecoin that you already have (like USDC, USDT, Pyusd) wherever you want.
And it seems to be an intelligent movement. Because you see, at the base, Mastercard is a payment facilitator. And the stablecoins offer faster, cheaper and borderless payments – the genre that inherited systems simply cannot correspond. If he does not adopt this change, he risks becoming out of words, in particular with his competitor Visa Work on your own Stablecoin platform.
So yes, it changes the way money moves.
Then, this change of stablecoin also modifies the fundamental architecture of Mastercard.
For decades, Mastercard operates on a closed network of payments. You slide your card, your bank checks the balance, Mastercard routes the message and the money moves in a closely controlled ecosystem. The Stablecoins return this model to its head because they live on public blockchains. Open networks without intermediaries or banking approvals. Anyone with an internet connection can send or receive funds.
So Mastercard does not only add a new payment method. It connects to a much more important public payment network. This means a larger addressable market and wider features.
Now, to be fair, cryptocurrencies have always had this potential. But what the stables bring is the price stability. And what Mastercard brings is simplicity and interoperability. Together, they make a fairly convincing use case.
But there is a philosophical contradiction here and a great to that.
You see, the Stablecoins were supposed to give people more control over money – to eliminate banks, get around the card networks and escape the guards. But when Mastercard becomes the deciding system which portfolios are supported, which parts are authorized, which countries are on the list – have we not just returned where we started?
This is the same concern that criticisms raise concerning CBDC or digital currencies of the Central Bank. These are digital currencies issued by the government that promise stability and programmability. But criticism fear that they will also allow governments to follow transactions, freeze accounts or set expiration dates on money. And imagine this level of control in private hands – which can emit tokens and manage the wallets. They become even more powerful than banks. They earn interest, set the rules and control the flow of money.
And we have seen what is happening when a private company grows too far. Remember Balance? The big Facebook plan to launch a global currency supported by an asset basket? He promised financial inclusion and stability. But the regulators pushed back and was closed because no one wanted a social media company with billions of users launching their own monetary system. So Balance is dead, but the idea did not do it.
Today’s stable stables are more regulated, supported by dollars and that is perhaps why companies like Mastercard enter the space.
But that does not mean that they are without risk.
USDT (TETHER), for example, is issued by a private company that is under constant control For years. No one is sure if it is completely supported because the audits were … elusive. And let’s not forget the terra, the sadly famous stable “algorithmic” which lost her ankle in 2022 and wiped out billions. Like that. It was designed to stay stable by letting traders exchange it with another token, Luna. But when people lost confidence in both, they started throwing them en masse. The whole system is spiral, and with nothing real supporting it, the value collapsed.
So yes, as with most new technologies, there is a compromise.
Mastercard could have stablecoins and it would offer users better speed, better efficiency and world scope. But the more stablescoins absorbed in the old financial system, the more they start to look like too.
However, with large companies now in the mixture, it could be a turning point. More payment companies could follow. Some may emit their own stable stables supported in dollars and receive interest on reserves.
So yes, the Mastercard Stablecoin thrust could look like a neat update and small payments.
But below, there is a much larger change. About knowing who can move money, which earns and decides what matters as real money in the first place.
Until then …
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