Mastercard announced on Monday a significant expansion into the digital asset economy, introducing new global capabilities to support stablecoin payments across its extensive merchant network. This initiative aims to integrate crypto with everyday spending.
The payments giant is collaborating with OKX to launch the "OKX Card," linking crypto trading and Web3 activities with daily transactions. Merchants will soon be able to settle transactions directly in stablecoins like USDC, facilitated by partnerships with Nuvei and Circle. Paxos will extend this functionality to other stablecoins like USDP.
Mastercard's initiative encompasses stablecoin use cases from wallet enablement and card issuance to merchant settlement and on-chain remittances. The company previously partnered with crypto exchanges like Kraken, Binance and Crypto.com to enable stablecoin payments via traditional cards.