Mastercard adds stablecoin settlement support for merchants

[NEW YORK] Mastercard announced that it will give merchants the option to receive payments in stablecoins amid increasing global regulatory clarity on the digital assets that are usually pegged to fiat currencies.

In a press release, Mastercard said it was partnering with firms including payments processor Nuvei and stablecoin issuers Circle and Paxos to enable the payments in the cryptocurrencies.

Lawmakers introduced the bipartisan Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or Genius Act, earlier this year to creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the US.

The bill passed a Senate committee vote in March and is moving towards potentially becoming law. Standard Chartered Bank estimated in a recent report that the stablecoin market could surge to US$2 trillion within the next three years after its expected passage.

“With increasing global regulatory clarity, stablecoins are evolving from crypto trading tools to essential solutions that bring efficiency and programmability to payments, disbursements, and remittances,” the release said.

Along with the announcement, Mastercard also said that it is working with crypto exchange OKX to launch a new card. Mastercard already partners with numerous crypto firms including MetaMask on crypto-enabled debit cards. BLOOMBERG