May 15, 2025 — Mastercard continues to accelerate its crypto services expansion by officially announcing a partnership with MoonPay, deploying a payment card service supporting stablecoins globally. This initiative allows users and businesses to pay and receive payments in stablecoins at over 150 million Mastercard acceptance points worldwide.
The implementation will leverage Iron's technology infrastructure, a stablecoin payment solution provider acquired by MoonPay in March. Accordingly, stablecoin transactions will be automatically converted to fiat currency, ensuring a seamless experience for both users and retailers.
Stablecoins are increasingly becoming a popular tool in crypto payment and trading due to price stability, pegged to fiat currencies like USD. Mastercard expects the new service will promote stablecoin adoption in cross-border payments, remittances, and the creative economy, despite legal uncertainties that still exist in many regions.
Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance indicating that some stablecoins are not considered securities, but left open questions regarding Algorithmic Stablecoins and yield-bearing stablecoins. Meanwhile, the SEC also terminated its investigation into PayPal's stablecoin at the end of April, showing a positive movement in the U.S. regulator's attitude towards this sector.
Mastercard is increasing its collaboration speed with major crypto companies, after partnering with OKX and Nuvei in April, allowing OKX to issue its own crypto card and Nuvei, in combination with Circle, to deploy payment infrastructure for merchants using stablecoins.
Mastercard's move comes right after Visa launched a stablecoin payment pilot program in six Latin American countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile, enabling users to pay directly from existing stablecoin balances. Visa plans to expand this program to Europe, Asia, and Africa in subsequent stages.
With the MoonPay partnership, Mastercard affirms its leading position in the global stablecoin infrastructure expansion race, transforming stablecoins into a common payment bridge for consumers and businesses, while directly competing with Visa in the crypto payment sector.
