Mastercard expands stablecoin settlement to intraday, weekend and holiday card processing

Mastercard said it is expanding the settlement options available across its global payments network, adding intraday, weekend and holiday settlement and enabling on-chain card settlement using regulated stablecoins alongside traditional fiat rails. The move is aimed at giving issuers and acquirers more control over settlement timing and liquidity for card-based transactions, particularly for flows where timing and transparency are critical.

In a June 3 announcement, Mastercard positioned the update as a network-level capability that partners can use to settle transactions “with greater flexibility,” including in markets where banks and payment systems may be less responsive outside standard business hours. Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president for Blockchain & Digital Assets, said the next phase of stablecoin adoption is “real-world utility” focused on settlement where liquidity and timing matter most.

Mastercard said the stablecoin settlement option will support multiple regulated tokens, including Circle’s USDC and Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG and USDP, along with Ripple’s RLUSD and SoFi’s SoFiUSD. It also listed the blockchain networks that will be supported for the on-chain settlement path, naming Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo and XRPL. Mastercard said ARQ (formerly DolarApp), CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank and Nuvei are expected to be among the first partners to support stablecoin settlement optionability in the United States and Latin America, with further expansion planned through 2026.

Mastercard described the enhancements as a scalable option delivered at the settlement layer, designed to let partners access both traditional and digital-asset-based settlement through the same infrastructure. The company said it intends to preserve existing protections, including security standards, fraud safeguards and dispute processes, even as settlement moves onto public blockchains for supported use cases.

The announcement lands as investors and market watchers continue to debate how stablecoin-related infrastructure could affect the business model of payments networks, which typically earn revenue through fees tied to card and transaction flows. A stablecoin settlement path could, in theory, reduce the operational friction of settlement windows and unlock new payment and treasury use cases that do not neatly match bank working hours. Whether that translates into material incremental revenue, or merely changes how settlement happens behind the scenes, remains a question for future disclosures.

The broader industry direction also appears to be toward multi-chain settlement. Visa, for example, said in late April it was expanding a stablecoin settlement pilot by adding five blockchains and that its program had reached a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, supporting nine blockchains in total. Visa’s comment framed the expansion as meeting partner expectations in a “multi-chain world,” which mirrors Mastercard’s emphasis on multiple tokens and multiple networks.

Mastercard’s stablecoin push is not limited to settlement. In a 2025 initiative, the company described capabilities spanning wallet enablement, card issuance and merchant settlement for regulated stablecoins, along with tools intended to support programmable payments. In that earlier work, Mastercard also highlighted the Mastercard Multi-Token Network (MTN), which is positioned as an infrastructure layer for programmable payments and stablecoin settlement for digital asset use cases, helping connect on-chain flows to traditional financial systems.

Still, several specifics are not disclosed in the June announcement. Mastercard did not provide measurable targets such as expected transaction volumes, settlement throughput, or the exact commercial terms that would apply to partners or stablecoin issuers. It also did not break out the timing for each region beyond an overall plan for expansion through 2026 and a statement that the rollout is subject to regulation. As a result, the practical scale and regulatory footprint of the new capabilities may become clearer only as partners begin live deployment.

What to watch next is which issuers and acquirers adopt the new stablecoin settlement option in the initial markets, and whether weekend and holiday settlement translates into faster settlement cycles for specific cross-border and treasury use cases. Another key variable is regulation by jurisdiction, since Mastercard said the expansion will continue globally subject to regulatory approval and that additional regions, partners and regulated stablecoins are expected to be added over time.