Mastercard Inc. is broadening its partnership with Circle Internet Financial Ltd. to allow acquirers in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa to settle transactions in Circle’s USDC and EURC stablecoins. The move expands earlier pilots and is designed to cut foreign-exchange costs and speed up settlement for merchants handling cross-border payments on Mastercard’s network.
Circle separately said it will integrate USDC into the payments infrastructure of fintech provider Finastra, whose systems process more than $5 trillion in cross-border flows each day for banks worldwide. The integration will let thousands of financial institutions use the dollar-pegged token for near-instant settlement alongside traditional rails.
The twin agreements underscore the growing role of regulated stablecoins in mainstream payments. Industry data show that combined stablecoin volumes now exceed those of Visa and PayPal, highlighting pressure on incumbent networks to adapt their offerings.
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Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/tradfi-and-fintech/mastercard-deepens-circle-tie-up-to-bring-usdc-settlement-to-eemea-2247295c
