Mastercard integrates stablecoin balances into traditional banking and bank card payment systems

The launch of the “Global Funds Platform” ( Global Money Platform ) marks Mastercard’s first major integration since acquiring BVNK in August. Companies such as Nuvei and Marqeta are among the first to adopt this platform.

Mastercard is expanding its presence in the field of stablecoin payments by launching a new platform that allows businesses to integrate digital currencies into traditional banking and card services. This move may make it easier for businesses to offer stablecoin payments without having to build their own infrastructure.

This service, named "Global Funds Platform," represents Mastercard's first major integration since acquiring the stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK in August of this year. Mastercard announced this news on Thursday.

According to Mastercard, businesses can use this platform to hold and convert fiat currencies and stablecoins, offer bank cards linked to stablecoins, and make payments directly from the stablecoin balance to the recipient's local bank account.

This service is connected to the Mastercard Move – Mastercard's global remittance network. This network can route payments to over 17 billion destinations, including bank accounts and debit/credit cards. The service also links stablecoin balances to Mastercard's merchant network, allowing customers to make purchases using their payment cards. Nuvei, Marqeta, and several other fintech companies are among the first batch of integrated partners.

This release extends MasterCard's role beyond merely processing payments to providing infrastructure, enabling financial companies to offer stablecoin services under their own brands. It also makes MasterCard's competition with Visa more direct. Visa launched a platform in July that allows financial institutions to hold, mint, and transfer stablecoins.

At the same time, research by Standard Chartered Bank shows that stablecoin trading activities are on the rise, despite the overall relatively stable circulating supply of major tokens such as USDt and USDC this year.

Relevant: US accounting reforms may make stablecoins more attractive to businesses: Tempo