The cards will use Iron’s technology, a company that was acquired by Moonpay.
Payment giants are taking note of the growing demand of Stablecoins.
Recently, a collaboration between Moonpay and Mastercard was announced to launch cards related to Stablecoins, which can be used in more than 150 million businesses around the world. According to the Moonpay team, each Wallet will have access to these new cards driven by stable currencies, thus facilitating the purchase, sale and exchange of cryptoactive in a more accessible way.
According to a release Mastercard officer, The new cards will be based on an infrastructure developed by Irona firm acquired by Moonpay in March. The objective is to allow companies and other actors of the payment ecosystem to manage their disbursements in a more practical and efficient way, exceeding the limitations of international transfers; It also seeks to facilitate payments in Stablecoins to temporary workers, contractors and content creators.
By combining the reliable Global Pagents Network of Mastercard and its digital asset capabilities with the advanced Moonpay infrastructure, this alliance seeks to offer faster and more intuitive payment solutions for both merchants and consumers. Whether it is purchases in a local market in Asia Pacific or a Latin American merchant who pays a European supplier online, these capabilities offer significant advantages.
Fragment of the statement issued by Mastercard.
On this collaboration, the CEO and founder of Moonpay, Ivan Soto-Wright, stressed: «Moonpay works with the largest crypto wallets in the sector and, together with Mastercard, we are carrying cards enabled for Stablecoins that are reliable and easy to use for users around the world … Our acquisition of Iron and the relationship with Mastercard will allow us Payments with Stablecoins in more than 150 million businesses ».
This tendency towards the integration of Stablecoins into traditional payment systems is not limited to Mastercard and Moonpay. In parallel, Visa has also begun to advance in this direction through a strategic alliance with Bridgea Fintech recently acquired by Stripe. Boards, have selected a series of financial platforms to issue visa cards linked to stable coins, with a strong initial approach in Latin America.
In fact, One of the first platforms to join the Visa initiative was AirTMwhich announced the next launch of its own card based on Stablecoins. Although all the details have not yet been confirmed, a promotional image revealed a design that includes the acronym of USDC, which suggests that this will be the main currency at the time of the debut. This was reported by cryptootics.
On the other hand, These companies also have more focused on privacy and decentralization projects. An example of this is the Dolphin Card, a new visa card announced by Aqua and Jan3 that allows you to pay with Bitcoin without the need to meet KYC processes (“Know Your Customer”). This approach points especially to users in unseeing regions, such as Latin America, where access to formal financial services remains limited.
The growing interest of giants such as Mastercard and Visa to integrate Stablecoins into their global payment networks reflects a deep change in the way we conceive finance. In this context, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, recently stressed that these solutions are not intended for countries with access to platforms such as Paypal or Venmo, but for the hundreds of millions of people in emerging economies, where monetary stability is little more than an illusion.
What Ardoino poses is key, since this expansion responds to an increasingly visible reality: in many regions, particularly in Latin America, distrust of traditional banking systems has led millions of people to look for alternatives. According to Bitfinex data, in 2024 Latin America was the Second region with greater growth in the use of cryptocurrencies, with an interannual increase of 42.5 %. However, it should be asked to what extent these new cards are really as accessible and safe as they seem. Although the possibility of making fast and friction payments is attractive, that comfort does not come without costs.
Not everything that shines is gold. While there are cases such as Dolphin Card, most of these cards require users to maintain their funds on centralized platforms subject to strict regulations, which introduces a layer of surveillance and dependence. Each transaction is registered and is easily traceable by financial and governmental entities, which can lead to legal or fiscal problems, especially in contexts of high political instability; There are also important structural risks: History of hackeos in exchanges and centralized custodians, such as the recent case of Bybit, demonstrates that these services are not exempt from vulnerabilities. Before this panorama, It is essential that users understand the balance between ease of use and control.
