Payments giant Mastercard is eyeing the stablecoin market — but its plans don’t include issuing cryptocurrency. 

Instead, Mastercard aims to develop the rails on which stablecoins will function, Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president for blockchain and digital assets, told Bank Automation News.

“We see our role in [stablecoins] as we look at what we do today, we enable use cases, money movement, card payments, cross-border payments and B2B payments among others,” Dhamodharan said, adding that Mastercard is well positioned to be a “bridge” between FIs and consumers for stablecoins. 

Mastercard enables money movement in more than 150 countries and more than 100 currencies, Dhamodharan said, adding that consumers want options to access money andmake payments. 

“As to stablecoins, we see it as another currency,” Chief Executive Michael Miebach said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call July 31. “We also see it as additive to the network with opportunities for us to provide the on and off ramps.” 

Stablecoins are an extension of an e-money banking function, Dhamodharan said.  

“Our existing solutions like Mastercard Move can transact cross-border payments almost in real time, similar to stablecoins,” he said. 

Effective partnerships 

With the signing of GENIUS Act in June, the crypto industry has well-defined regulations that will aid in innovation and adoption of the technology, Dhamodharan said. 

“Many of the financial institutions are interested in issuing stablecoins,” Dhamodharan said, adding that Mastercard will work with issuers and other players in the market to provide consumers with seamless access. 

The company joined industry consortium Global Dollar Network, to provide clients access to stablecoins USDC and USDG, according to a July 23 Mastercard release. 

Mastercard also works with Coinbase to help clients purchase cryptocurrencies, Dhamodharan said. 

“We issue cards all the way from Kraken, Crypto.com, Metamask, OKX and so on,” Dhamodharan said, adding that Mastercard can give consumers an on-ramp to the crypto world and an off-ramp to exit with their holdings. 

Growing market needs new business decisions 

The stablecoin market is expected to hit $1.6 trillion by 2030, up from $270 billion in 2025, according to Citi’s Digital Dollar report, published on April 14. 

Mastercard has a major decision on how it tackles stablecoin payments, Pierre Buhler, managing director of financial services practice at consultancy SSA & Co., told BAN, adding that stablecoins can be another PayPal moment for the industry. 

When PayPal was created, Visa and Mastercard expected to maintain an edge in P2P payments given their size and reach, but a new niche of P2P players, including PayPal, has popped up, taking away share from Visa and Mastercard, Buhler said. 

“If major retailers like Amazon and Walmart move toward stablecoins, it could be a serious threat to Mastercard and Visa’s business,” Buhler said. 

Mastercard reported total payments processed of $2.6 trillion in Q2, up 9% YoY, and net income of $3.7 billion, up 14% YoY in Q2.