Stablecoins are growing in popularity as a payment method in the cross-border market. As both consumers and businesses look to avoid heavy exchange fees, Mastercard, the global payments provider, has partnered with MoonPay, the crypto transfer fintech.
As a result of this new partnership, enterprises and fintechs will be able to spend their stablecoin balances using Mastercard-branded cards, at more than 150 million locations where Mastercard is accepted worldwide. This will be made possible due to an acquisition made by MoonPay earlier this year, in which it acquired Iron, an API-first stablecoin infrastructure platform.
“MoonPay serves the largest crypto wallets in the industry, and with Mastercard, we’re bringing convenient, trusted stablecoin-enabled cards to crypto users around the world,” said Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO and founder at MoonPay. “Our acquisition of Iron and long-standing relationship with Mastercard allow us to power a new era of payments made with stablecoins.”
Using Iron’s infrastructure, MoonPay is facilitating stablecoin-powered payments for businesses and transforming crypto wallets into new digital bank accounts for seamless global transactions. This will unlock the ability for businesses, neobanks, and other payment participants to manage payouts and disbursements more efficiently, improving cross-border money transfers. It also allows businesses to offer stablecoin-based payouts to gig workers, contractors and creators.
Combining Mastercard’s global payments network and digital assets capabilities with MoonPay’s infrastructure connecting the crypto economy, this partnership aims to deliver faster, more intuitive payment solutions for merchants and consumers alike. Whether it’s shopping at a local market in Asia Pacific or a Latin American merchant paying a European supplier online, these capabilities offer significant advantages.
Expanding the stablecoin and crypto userbase
MoonPay’s extensive network, with integrations across over 500 leading crypto platforms including major wallets and exchanges, provides a combined reach of over 100 million active crypto users. This unique position allows them to deploy stablecoin-powered Mastercard cards across the global payments and commerce ecosystem.
Around 20 million crypto wallets globally are making monthly stablecoin transactions, with 120 million holding stablecoin balances. This scale demonstrates the significant demand for accessible spending solutions powered by digital assets.
This announcement also builds upon Mastercard’s proven efforts and expertise to enable global, end-to-end stablecoin acceptance and payments capabilities, ensuring that people and businesses can make and receive stablecoin payments – anytime, anywhere.
“By providing solutions that unlock stablecoin utility and ubiquity, we are redefining how money moves globally and driving a shift in payments as we know it,” said Scott Abrahams, executive vice president, global partnerships at Mastercard. “Together with MoonPay, we’re building innovative and secure connectivity between crypto and mainstream finance ecosystems, grounded by trust and driven by scale.”
