Mastercard is expanding its involvement in cryptocurrency infrastructure through a new partnership with MoonPay, introducing payment cards that allow users to transact using stablecoins.

The underlying infrastructure will be provided by Iron—a stablecoin payments company acquired by MoonPay in March—and is expected to launch later this year, though no specific timeline or countries have been confirmed.

The service is intended for both individuals and businesses and will automatically convert stablecoins into fiat at the point of sale.

What can we expect from the stablecoin payment cards?

The new card service will allow users to make purchases and receive payments in stablecoins, with transactions automatically converted into fiat currency. This approach is designed to allow merchants and cardholders to interact with stablecoins without dealing with the complexity of managing crypto wallets or dealing with market volatility directly.

Iron, the infrastructure provider now owned by MoonPay, will handle the technical backend of the service. Whilst the specific stablecoins to be supported have not been disclosed, such products typically use well-known assets like USDC or USDT, both of which are pegged to the US dollar.

The rollout is planned to be global, though both companies have not detailed which regions will be prioritised.

Ongoing Regulatory Developments

In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance in April stating that some stablecoins do not qualify as securities. However, it did not offer clarity on yield-bearing or algorithmic stablecoins, leaving parts of the market in a legal grey area.

The SEC also recently closed an investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin without taking enforcement action, signalling a possible shift toward more defined regulatory boundaries. Even so, the broader legal framework for stablecoins—particularly those used in financial products or payment systems—is still under development in many countries.

Despite this, large payment networks are continuing to experiment. Visa recently launched a stablecoin pilot programme across six Latin American countries, with plans to expand to other continents. Mastercard’s own series of partnerships, including the latest with MoonPay, indicates that the firm views stablecoins as a viable component of future payment infrastructure.

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has entered into a partnership with trading platform Robinhood and a number of payment platforms to facilitate crypto-to-fiat transactions.

Starting on Feb. 27, users in more than 180 countries can sell supported crypto assets to deposit funds directly into their bank account through Robinhood, MoonPay and Transak, Uniswap announced. 

It added that the fiat onramping and offramping was live in the Uniswap wallet on both Android and Apple iOS and would be coming to the Uniswap extension and the web app soon.

Moving between crypto and cash has “historically been frustrating,” Uniswap stated, because users need to sign into centralized exchanges and deal with crypto addresses. However, it can be done with “just a few clicks” using the DEX wallet, it added. 

The move comes a few days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its investigation into Uniswap Labs. 

On Feb. 25, the SEC stated that it had concluded its investigation and had no plans to pursue enforcement action against the firm. Uniswap received a Wells notice from the SEC in April during Gary Gensler’s tenure. “This is a huge win for DeFi,” said Uniswap Labs. 

The securities regulator also dropped its probe into Robinhood’s crypto division this week after threatening to take legal action against the firm in 2024. 

Related: MetaMask adds fiat off-ramp for 10 blockchains to improve crypto accessibility

Uniswap is the world’s largest DEX, with $4.2 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama. However, TVL has tanked by 30% since the beginning of this year with the broader crypto market retreat. It is also down from the all-time high of $10 billion in 2021. 

Uniswap launched its long-awaited v4 platform with improved user experience and developer options on 12 chains in late January. 

There was no positive reaction for Uniswap’s native token, UNI (UNI), which slumped 5.4% on the day and fell to $7.60 at the time of writing amid a broader market drop.

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