Mastercard launches crypto partner program with a 'who's who' of industry

The program connects crypto companies, banks and payment providers to explore blockchain-based payment and settlement infrastructure.

Mastercard has launched a global crypto partner program that initially brings together more than 85 companies across the digital asset and payments industries to collaborate on blockchain-based payment and settlement systems.

The initiative is designed to connect crypto companies, financial institutions and payments providers as digital assets begin playing a larger role in cross-border transfers, payouts and other financial services.

Participants include crypto exchanges, blockchain networks and infrastructure providers including Binance, Circle, Gemini, Paxos, Ripple, PayPal, Polygon, Solana, Crypto.com, MoonPay, Fireblocks and the Canton Network.

They will work with Mastercard on products that integrate blockchain-based systems with existing payment infrastructure. According to the announcement, the program will focus on use cases such as cross-border money movement, settlements and commercial payments.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Mastercard said “digital assets are entering a new phase,” with technologies that once operated alongside traditional finance increasingly being applied to practical uses such as cross-border remittances and business-to-business payments.

Mastercard said the initiative builds on its existing work in digital assets, including partnerships with crypto companies, programs supporting blockchain startups and crypto-linked payment cards.

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Mastercard’s new partner program comes as major payments networks deepen their embrace of digital assets. Both Mastercard and Visa have launched initiatives in recent years aimed at integrating blockchain technology and stablecoins with traditional payment infrastructure.

In September, Visa announced a pilot that allows banks to pre-fund cross-border payments with stablecoins through its Visa Direct platform, enabling near-instant payouts.

About a month later, the company said it would expand its crypto services to support four additional stablecoins across four blockchains, in addition to stablecoins it already supports on networks including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM) and Avalanche (AVAX).

Rival Mastercard said about 30% of its transactions were tokenized in 2024 as it continued expanding efforts to integrate blockchain technology and digital assets into its payment infrastructure.

Earlier this month, Mastercard and SoFi Technologies teamed up to enable settlement using SoFi’s dollar-backed stablecoin, SoFiUSD, across Mastercard’s payments network.

The agreement allows issuers and acquirers to settle card transactions using the bank-issued digital dollar, with SoFi Bank planning to settle its own Mastercard credit and debit transactions in the stablecoin.

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Source: CoinTelegraph