Standard Chartered is supporting a stablecoin payment card in Singapore, building a new payments infrastructure that connects traditional finance with digital assets.
According to a CoinDesk report, Standard Chartered is partnering with Singapore-based card company DCS to support the launch of DeCard. DeCard is a payment card designed to allow stablecoins to be used like a regular credit card, and Standard Chartered, as a key banking partner, will provide virtual account services and API integration.
The core of this project is the real-world application of stablecoins in payments. While stablecoins have primarily been used for payments between exchanges, institutions, and as collateral, DeCard aims to expand this use into the consumer payment realm. Users can load stablecoins and use them immediately for online and offline payments, with settlements being processed in real time via the blockchain network.
Singapore is already established as a global digital asset hub, and this pilot project is being conducted with the goal of expanding into global markets. Standard Chartered and DCS plan to expand the DeCard service to major financial hubs in Asia in the future.
Standard Chartered, in particular, has recently been actively engaged in blockchain and stablecoin infrastructure projects. Operating its own digital asset platform, the bank is already investing in a USD-based stablecoin payment system and tokenized asset management services. This collaboration is seen as a symbolic example of the traditional financial sector's full-scale entry into the digital asset payment ecosystem.
The financial industry believes the DeCard project has the potential to accelerate the entry of stablecoins into institutional payments. This is because, when combined with Standard Chartered's international financial network and credit payment infrastructure, blockchain-based payments could rapidly expand into the global consumer market.
This collaboration goes beyond a simple technical experiment and represents a significant milestone, demonstrating that stablecoins can become a new standard for global payments.
