Mastercard launches fiat-stablecoin account, first major product since BVNK deal

Mastercard and its subsidiary BVNK on Oct. 15 launched Mastercard Global Money Platform, a business service that holds fiat currencies and stablecoins in a single account. Banks, fintechs and enterprises can embed the capabilities into their own products under their own brand through a single API (application programming interface), and the platform is available now through BVNK. It is the first major integration of the two companies' capabilities since Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK in August.

USDC balances sit next to dollar balances

At the center is the "global money account," a multi-currency account where fiat and stablecoins (tokens pegged to the dollar or other assets) sit side by side, with conversion between the two through a single API. According to a BVNK blog post, the accounts support both custodial and self-custodial options and offer rewards on eligible balances.

The platform connects to more than 20 blockchain networks and payment rails. Stellar, Arc, Monad, Plasma and Tempo were newly added, and supported stablecoins include USDC and OUSD, BVNK said. The companies cited the example of a manufacturer that receives multiple currencies and pays overseas suppliers, saying it could manage accounts and pre-funded balances that are now spread across markets in a single place.

Stablecoin balances fund local bank payouts and card payments

Payouts run through Mastercard Move, the company's portfolio of global money movement capabilities, which Mastercard says reaches more than 17 billion endpoints. Users can send local-currency payments directly into recipients' bank accounts from stablecoin balances, with coverage expected to expand to more than 40 currencies across more than 200 countries and territories in 2027.

Spending is covered too. Stablecoin balances can be used across hundreds of millions of Mastercard merchant locations, and card issuing is available in more than 130 countries. The companies plan to add support for agentic commerce, in which AI agents make payments on behalf of people, and tokenized deposits, which turn bank deposits into tokens. The announcement did not include country-by-country launch dates or say whether South Korea would be supported.

Seven months from deal to first integrated product

1. March 17Mastercard announces a deal to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments
2. Aug. 3Acquisition completed
3. Sept. 9BVNK partners with card issuing platform Marqeta on stablecoin cards
4. Sept. 22BVNK integrates the Stellar blockchain
5. Oct. 15Global Money Platform launches

BVNK, founded in 2021, provides stablecoin payment infrastructure. In announcing the deal in March, Mastercard said BVNK enables customers to send and receive payments on all major blockchain networks across more than 130 countries, and cited Boston Consulting Group data showing digital currency payments reached at least $350 billion in volume in 2025. "We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits," Jorn Lambert, Mastercard's chief product officer, said at the time. The deal, expected to close before the end of the year, closed in early August.

Payments company Nuvei and Marqeta are among the first customers. Marqeta processed nearly $400 billion in payments in 2025, and BVNK said when announcing the Marqeta partnership in September that its stablecoin payment volume exceeds $39 billion on an annualized basis. Phil Fayer, chair and CEO of Nuvei, said in the announcement that stablecoins are becoming an increasingly important part of cross-border commerce and that the company would bring the capabilities to more businesses. Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's executive vice president for blockchain and digital assets, said:

"We believe the future of commerce will be built on interoperability across multiple forms of money."

Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain and Digital Assets, Mastercard

USDC trades at 1,350 won on Upbit, about 0.5% above the won-dollar rate

USDC traded at 1,350 won in Upbit's Korean won market at around 12:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 16. Against the won-dollar exchange rate of 1,342.7 won in Coinyong's price feed at the same time, that is about 0.5% above $1. On Bithumb, it traded at 1,352 won.

Trading value over the past 24 hours was 950 million won on Upbit and 1.3 billion won on Bithumb. On Upbit, that is about 1.2% of trading value in Tether (USDT).