Mastercard announced early Wednesday it plans to introduce settlement options including weekends, holidays, and at times during the day of the transaction. The new settlement windows will apply to both card-based fiat transactions and those involving cards linked to regulated stablecoins, the network said.
The move would expand availability beyond traditional business-day settlement and comes as both Mastercard and Visa have deepened their capabilities in on-chain card settlement stemming from stablecoin-backed cards. Mastercard alone runs more than 100 card programs globally that link to stablecoins and moved deeper into the digital currency with its agreement in March to acquire BVNK, a London-based stablecoin platform, for $1.8 billion.
“We’re seeing growing interest from banks, fintechs, and partners, particularly for use cases that benefit from faster, more flexible and more transparent settlement (e.g., cross-border flows, treasury and payouts),” a Mastercard spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News by email. “More broadly, we already support a broad and growing set of crypto-linked card programs globally (more than 120 programs globally), working with exchanges, fintechs, and financial institutions to bring digital assets into everyday payments. We’re not sharing specific volumes or card figures at this stage.”
Information was not immediately available regarding whether new fees would apply to these new settlement windows. Mastercard said the new schedule will in particular embrace cards backed by regulated stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC, and those issued by Paxos, Ripple, and SoFi. Financial institutions and processors supporting the program include ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River Bank, Lead Bank, and Nuvei, according to Mastercard.
“This is a major step forward in realizing the potential of stablecoins for retail payments,” says Aaron McPherson, principal at AFM Consulting LLC. He cautions, however, that Mastercard’s move “does have the side effect of taking the momentum away from direct stablecoin transactions, which is probably one of Mastercard’s goals. They do not want to see a rival set of rails compete with cards.”
The network said the new settlement windows will become available over time as more partners and stablecoins are added. “By introducing intraday and weekend on settlement options across our global network, we’re expanding how partners manage liquidity and operate in an always-on digital economy,” says Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, blockchain and digital assets, at Mastercard, in a statement.