Mastercard Lets Businesses Spend Stablecoins at Hundreds of Millions of Merchants

TLDR

• Mastercard launched Global Money Platform on Oct. 15, its first major product built with BVNK since buying the firm in August.
• Businesses can hold fiat and stablecoins, issue cards in 130-plus countries and pay out to local bank accounts.
• Mastercard Move reaches more than 17 billion endpoints, with wider currency coverage planned for 2027.
• Nuvei, Marqeta, Ontop, Beem and Almond FinTech are among the first partners.
• The deal was valued at up to $1.8 billion, and the launch puts Mastercard in closer competition with Visa.

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Mastercard has launched a platform that lets businesses connect stablecoin balances to traditional banking and card payments. The company announced the Global Money Platform on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Today, we’re launching Mastercard Global Money Platform with @BVNKFinance, enabling banks, fintechs, and enterprises to offer stablecoin payments, local bank payouts, spend stablecoin-linked cards, and multi-currency accounts through a single integration. Learn more:… pic.twitter.com/bx5x5Y4to6

— Mastercard (@Mastercard) October 15, 2026

It is the first major product to come out of Mastercard’s partnership with BVNK. Mastercard bought the stablecoin infrastructure company in August.

How the Platform Works

The platform lets banks, financial technology firms and other businesses offer accounts that hold both regular currencies and stablecoins. Everything is handled through one application programming interface, or API.

Businesses can convert between fiat and stablecoins in real time. They can also issue payment cards linked to stablecoin balances and send payments to recipients abroad.

Customers can spend stablecoin balances at hundreds of millions of merchant locations. They do not need to exchange their holdings manually first. Card issuing is available in more than 130 countries.

The service connects to Mastercard Move, the company’s global money transfer network. Move can reach more than 17 billion payment endpoints, including bank accounts and cards.

Through Move, businesses can turn stablecoin balances into local currency. The money is then sent straight to bank accounts.

Partners and Executive Comments

Nuvei, Marqeta, Ontop, Beem and Almond FinTech are among the first companies to integrate the service. Several other fintech firms are also involved.

The launch means Mastercard does more than process payments. It also provides infrastructure that financial companies can use to offer stablecoin services under their own brands.

Chris Harmse, BVNK’s co-founder and chief business officer, spoke about the launch. “With Global Money Platform, we’re delivering on our promise to connect BVNK’s technology with the scale and trust of Mastercard,” he said.

Raj Dhamodharan is Mastercard’s executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets. He said, “We believe the future of commerce will be built on interoperability across multiple forms of money.”

Competition and Market Data

The launch puts Mastercard in closer competition with Visa. Visa introduced its own platform in July. It lets financial institutions hold, mint and transfer stablecoins.

Research from Standard Chartered shows stablecoin transaction activity is growing. The circulating supplies of major tokens such as USDt and USDC have stayed relatively flat this year.

Mastercard’s August purchase of BVNK was valued at up to $1.8 billion. That figure includes contingent payments.

The platform is available through BVNK. Mastercard says future plans include tokenized deposits and commerce carried out by autonomous AI agents.

Coverage of Mastercard Move is expected to expand beyond 40 currencies. It will span more than 200 countries and territories in 2027.