Mastercard and Circle Partner to Trial USDC Settlements

Circle, the blockchain company behind the second-most popular stablecoin USDC, has partnered with the US multinational financial services giant – Mastercard. Both parties aim to facilitate crypto-to-fiat conversions and test using USDC as a settlement option.

• The partnership, announced by Circle on July 20th, will result in launching a pilot program that will assist both companies in a few endeavors.
• Firstly, Mastercard will start employing USDC to “facilitate crypto-to-fiat conversations” and to expand the ability of issuers and digital asset businesses to spend their virtual currencies.
• Another part of the testing will including using the popular stablecoin as a means for card issuers to “more easily settle payments to Mastercard, helping accelerate the world towards greater use of internet-native financial infrastructure.”

• “The engagement between Mastercard and Circle fuels new payment opportunities and commerce in digital currencies. The cryptocurrency market continues to mature, and we are driving it forward together to reduce friction and create choice for people.” – commented Mastercard’s Executive Vice President of Digital Assets Raj Dhamodharan.

• On the other hand, Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, noted that the partnership will reinforce how “USDC is growing in payments and commerce on the internet, while building a vital bridge between digital currency payment systems and large, established payment networks.”
• The US financial giant already has multiple products related to the cryptocurrency space. Those include credit cards with rewards in bitcoin, launched with Gemini earlier this year.