Circle, a company that provides payments and financial infrastructure for internet businesses, has announced a commitment with Mastercard to make it easier for consumers and businesses around the world to harness the power of USD Coin (quotation USDC) for high confidence and low friction transactions.
Demand for USDC has grown dramatically over the past year as users, businesses, fintechs, and global payment companies are increasingly turning to USDC, the world's fastest growing digital dollar currency, to power new payments and internet businesses. . Mastercard partners' use of USDC to streamline cryptocurrency-to-fiat conversions is expected to help card issuers in the future facilitate settlement at Mastercard.
As more and more digital wallet providers around the world add support for blockchain-enabled currencies and payments, this collaboration helps accelerate the move to a more internet-native financial infrastructure.
"The engagement between Circle and Mastercard strengthens how USDC is increasing its role in internet payments and commerce, building a vital bridge between digital currency payment systems and large established payment networks," he said. Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Cerchio. "We are thrilled to work with Mastercard to simplify card offerings for cryptocurrency companies."
“The engagement between Mastercard and Circle fuels new payment and trading opportunities in digital currencies,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of digital and blockchain products and partnerships at Mastercard. "The cryptocurrency market continues to mature and we are pursuing it together to reduce friction and create choices for people."
Expanding economic activity, increasing efficiency and promoting USDC adoption
Specifically, the commitment between Circle and Mastercard reduces the steps required for card issuers supporting USDC in digital currency wallets:
- Today, card issuers that allow payments using digital assets must first convert those assets into fiat before settling a transaction.
- This extra step is costly and complex for issuers, particularly as many digital assets do not have the same price stability with the US dollar as the USDC does; Additionally, the USDC moves faster than many traditional settlement options.
- Engagement with Mastercard will enhance its crypto card program for cryptocurrency exchanges, making it easier for partners to convert cryptocurrency into traditional fiat currency.
With businesses and merchants powered by the Mastercard network around the world, testing this new feature expands opportunities to allow more cryptocurrency companies to offer a card option to allow people to spend their digital assets wherever Mastercard is accepted. .
About Circle
Circle is a global financial technology company that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies and public blockchains for payments, commerce and financial applications around the world.
Circle is the leading operator of USD Coin (USDC), which has become the fastest growing, regulated and fully confidential digital dollar currency. The USDC in circulation is over $ 25 billion and has backed over $ 785 billion in on-chain transactions.
Today, Circle's transactional services, business accounts and platform APIs are giving birth to a new generation of financial services and commercial applications that deliver on the promise of increasing global economic prosperity for all through programmable internet commerce. Additionally, Circle operates SeedInvest, one of the largest equity crowdfunding platforms in the United States, which is a registered broker dealer.
