Global payments firm Mastercard has reportedly given a thumbs-up to Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin at the ongoing XRP Ledger (XRPL) Hackathon in New York City.
As per XRPL community member Lost Art, Mastercard representatives gave their nod to the Ripple-issued stablecoin while explaining partner pitch requirements at the event.
“Mastercard just complimented Ripple’s $RLUSD live at XRPL Commons Hackathon partner pitch requirements,” Lost Art said on X on Oct. 24.
It is worth noting that Mastercard is among the official partners of the two-day hackathon scheduled for Oct. 24–25, right before Ripple’s flagship Swell conference.
Inside the XRP Ledger Hackathon
The AI & Fintech XRPL Hackathon is a 36-hour developer showdown hosted by XRPL Commons, a non-profit group focused on the XRP Ledger ecosystem.
The hackathon unites developers, entrepreneurs, designers, and finance experts to build new applications on top of the XRP Ledger.
With more than $40K in prizes up for grabs, Mastercard, Ripple, XRP Ledger Foundation, Ledger, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and QuickNode will provide mentorship and judge the participants.
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The hackathon has four tracks: Agentic Finance, Lending & Borrowing, Protocol Innovation, and a catch-all track: Why Not.
In particular, the hackathon focuses on autonomous payments using artificial intelligence agents. Such applications could leverage XRP or RLUSD for making payments without the need for human intervention at each payment cycle.
The hackathon is a precursor to Ripple Swell 2026, set to take place from Oct. 27–29 in New York City.
Growing Mastercard–Ripple tie-ups
Mastercard already has a functional relationship with Ripple that goes beyond the XRP Ledger’s developer ecosystem.
In November 2025, Ripple announced it was working with Mastercard, WebBank, and crypto exchange Gemini to study RLUSD-based settlement of traditional credit card transactions.
As per the proposed setup, RLUSD will enable a blockchain-based settlement between Mastercard and WebBank — the latter being the bank issuer. In August 2023, Ripple was among the first cohort of Mastercard’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Partner Program, alongside the likes of Consensys and Fireblocks.
On the other hand, Mastercard has been rapidly scaling up its stablecoin-related offerings.
In June 2026, Mastercard announced its intent to launch new settlement options featuring regulated stablecoins, including Ripple’s RLUSD. The payment giant also supported Circle’s USDC, PayPal’s PYUSD, Paxos’ USDG and USDP, and SoFiUSD.
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