Mastercard Will Use USDC Stablecoin For New Crypto Card Offering

Mastercard is planning to leverage USDC and other stablecoins to enable easy conversion of cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies, according to a July 20 announcement. This will essentially streamline the process for crypto users to spend their crypto in any outlet that supports Mastercard. 

Mastercard Partners Circle, Paxos to Enable Easy Conversion of Crypto

Mastercard has partnered with industry leaders including USDC issuer Circle, Paxos, and Evolve Bank & Trust to roll out this new improvement. USDC stablecoin will be used as the bridge currency between fiat and digital currencies once the offering goes live. 

Today, not all crypto companies have the foundational infrastructure to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency, and we’re making it easier. […] Mastercard expects to deliver on our promise of consumer choice to provide options to people around the world on how and when to pay.

Raj Dhamodharan, EVP, Blockchain / Digital Asset Products & Partnerships, Mastercard

The new card offering will allow crypto businesses and banks to give customers the option of paying with cryptocurrency. This shapes as a milestone in that it will gradually take crypto to the mainstream as a payment currency. 

Mastercard Dives Deeper into Crypto

The update comes five months after Mastercard predicted it would roll out crypto services later this year. At the time, the payment giant noted it would mostly focus on stablecoins, which are a kind of cryptocurrency pegged to external assets for price stability.

The company has also confirmed its partnership with Gemini exchange to launch a cryptocurrency reward credit card, which solidifies its interest in the crypto space.