Daily News 19

Tag: Mastercard

  • SoFi Moves $25 Billion Mastercard Program Onto Stablecoin Rails

    SoFi Moves $25 Billion Mastercard Program Onto Stablecoin Rails

    Key Highlights

    • SoFi becomes the first nationally chartered U.S. bank to settle debit and credit card transactions via blockchain on Mastercard’s global network, processing an estimated $25 billion annually through its SoFiUSD stablecoin.
    • SoFiUSD is backed primarily by cash reserves, redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars, and overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, though it carries no FDIC or SIPC insurance.
    • The live rollout caps a six-month partnership with Mastercard and signals a broader industry push to integrate stablecoin settlement into traditional payment rails, with SoFi now pursuing retail, cross-border, and remittance applications.

    SoFi Launches First Bank-Issued Stablecoin Settlement on Mastercard Network

    San Francisco-based SoFi Technologies has achieved a landmark milestone in the convergence of traditional banking and blockchain infrastructure. Announced Tuesday, the company became the first nationally chartered bank in the United States to route its entire debit and credit card program—an operation expected to process roughly $25 billion in annual volume—through blockchain-based settlement on Mastercard’s global network. The move leverages SoFiUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin SoFi began issuing earlier this year, marking the first live deployment of a bank-issued digital currency for mainstream card settlement at this scale.

    Regulatory Framework and Token Design

    SoFiUSD is issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., which operates under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). According to the announcement, the stablecoin is backed primarily by cash reserves and can be redeemed for U.S. dollars on a one-to-one basis. The companies were explicit, however, that SoFiUSD is not a bank deposit and carries no FDIC or SIPC insurance, a distinction that underscores the novel regulatory territory the product occupies. Transactions were already moving through the blockchain as of Tuesday’s announcement, building on a partnership first revealed in March between SoFi and Mastercard.

    Executive Perspective on Speed and Safeguards

    SoFi CEO Anthony Noto framed the launch as a practical breakthrough for business clients. “In six months, SoFi and Mastercard took stablecoin settlement from an idea to a live product that materially improves how money moves for businesses,” said SoFi CEO Anthony Noto, in a statement. He added that thanks to the move, “businesses have faster access to their money via the speed of blockchain, with the safeguards of a bank.” The emphasis on speed—near-instant settlement versus traditional multi-day cycles—reflects a core value proposition driving institutional adoption of tokenized money.

    Why This Matters

    The deployment signals a pivotal shift in how major payment networks and regulated banks approach blockchain infrastructure. Mastercard has been steadily building a “multi-rail” strategy that accommodates stablecoins alongside legacy rails, working with banks, fintechs, and crypto-native issuers to create interoperable settlement layers. For SoFi, the card program migration is explicitly described as a starting point: the company confirmed it is in active discussions with large retailers and technology platforms about adopting similar settlement arrangements, and it plans to explore additional applications with Mastercard, including cross-border payments and remittances. If those expansions materialize, SoFiUSD could become a template for how chartered banks tokenize commercial money while remaining within the perimeter of federal banking regulation.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is SoFiUSD and how is it backed?

    SoFiUSD is a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by SoFi Bank, N.A. It is backed primarily by cash reserves and is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars. The token is overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency but is not a bank deposit and does not carry FDIC or SIPC insurance.

    How does this change the experience for SoFi cardholders and merchants?

    For businesses accepting SoFi card payments, settlement occurs at blockchain speed—effectively near-instant—rather than the traditional multi-day clearing cycle. Cardholders continue to use their SoFi debit and credit cards as normal; the blockchain settlement layer operates behind the scenes on Mastercard’s network.

    Will SoFi expand stablecoin settlement beyond card transactions?

    Yes. SoFi stated it is in talks with large retailers and technology platforms about similar settlement arrangements and plans to explore additional applications with Mastercard, specifically citing cross-border payments and remittances as next steps.

  • Cardano Joins Mastercard Crypto Program: Can ADA Drive Mainstream Adoption?

    Cardano Joins Mastercard Crypto Program: Can ADA Drive Mainstream Adoption?

    Mastercard’s engagement with Cardano signals potential collaboration rather than direct integration of the blockchain into the payments giant’s core platform. The development opens avenues for future use cases, though it stops short of an established institutional relationship. Should discussions progress into live payment applications, Cardano would gain a notable level of institutional recognition.

    Cardano’s Stablecoin Liquidity Faces Critical Test

    A primary hurdle for Cardano’s payment ambitions is stablecoin liquidity. The network’s stablecoin market currently holds approximately $60 million, but data from Cardanoscan.io shows that USDCx accounts for over 70% of that total, representing roughly $43 million in dollar-denominated assets.

    Most current activity stems from decentralized finance (DeFi) applications rather than real-world payments. This distinction matters because Mastercard’s program targets cross-border transfers, B2B payments, and settlement. Despite Cardano’s low fees, the limited liquidity constrains the network’s ability to process significant payment volumes. Growth in USDCx circulation, active user wallets, and overall transfer volumes would signal stronger payment demand and help convert theoretical potential into practical utility.

    Can Cardano Scale for Global Payments?

    The viability of Cardano as a payment rail will be tested through user adoption. According to Token Terminal data, daily active users hover near 10,000, while monthly active accounts reached 323,600. This suggests a large base of users retains access and interacts with the network intermittently.

    Cardano’s average transaction fee of $0.06 supports small, high-volume cross-border transfers. However, the central question remains whether users are actively employing stablecoins for payments. If daily activity stays low, payment capacity remains largely theoretical. Rising stablecoin transfer counts, payment-focused wallets, and transaction frequency would demonstrate growing demand and give the Mastercard partnership tangible significance.

  • Nu Launches U.S. Banking and USDC Global Account

    Nu Launches U.S. Banking and USDC Global Account

    Nu Launches U.S. Banking and Global Stablecoin Products as Latin American Leader Expands North

    Latin America’s largest digital bank, Nu, officially entered the United States on September 10 with two distinct product lines: a domestic banking suite backed by Lead Bank and a separate global offering, Nu Global, that converts customer deposits into stablecoins. The rollout was disclosed through a company release and a corresponding SEC filing, with both products described as releasing in stages beginning on the announcement date.

    U.S. Banking Through Lead Bank Partnership

    Nu’s U.S. operation provides deposit accounts, debit cards, credit cards, and domestic or international transfers through Lead Bank, a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Lead Bank supplies the regulated banking and card services, while Nu operates as a financial technology company.

    Deposit Account and Savings Features

    The U.S. deposit account pays a 3.50% annual percentage yield (APY) on available dollar balances. Interest is calculated and credited daily, and customers retain immediate access to money placed in designated savings goals. Deposits are held by Lead Bank and receive FDIC insurance subject to applicable legal limits and eligibility requirements.

    A limited-edition metal debit card accompanies the account. Domestic transfers carry no fee, while international transfers initially cover Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Nu plans to add more countries but has not published a full expansion schedule.

    Credit Card and Future Yield Tiers

    Nu’s Mastercard World Elite credit card carries no annual fee and pays 1.5% unlimited cashback. Customers who meet conditions that have not yet been fully detailed may eventually increase the rate to 2%.

    A future feature promises a 4.50% APY savings goal capped at $10,000 for customers who pair the deposit account with the credit card and complete qualifying transactions. Because Nu repeatedly uses “soon” to describe these higher rates, neither the 4.50% yield nor the 2% cashback should be treated as available to every customer at launch.

    “capturing even a small share of the U.S. market will be transformative for our business,”

    said Cristina Junqueira, co-founder and CEO of Nu’s U.S. operation. She added that the company wants its app to become customers’ primary banking relationship, though Nu has not issued a U.S. customer, deposit, or revenue target.

    Nu Global Converts Deposits into Stablecoins

    Nu Global operates separately from the Lead Bank offering. According to the SEC filing, funds deposited through the global account are converted into Circle-issued $USDC or $EURC stablecoins.

    Yield Rates and Spending Features

    $USDC balances receive an advertised 3.50% APY, while $EURC balances receive 2.20%. Nu says both rates accrue daily but has not committed to maintaining either rate for a fixed period. The account includes a virtual Mastercard for global purchases, and Nu says users can spend at competitive exchange rates without an added foreign-exchange markup, subject to the product’s terms and availability in each jurisdiction.

    Transfer Corridors and Digital Asset Access

    Transfers are initially focused on corridors between Europe and Latin America. Connections with Nu’s systems in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. are planned for later, but the company has not supplied individual launch dates. Customers can hold and trade a limited selection of digital assets through the same app, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nu has not published the complete asset list, supported blockchain networks, or withdrawal conditions in its announcement.

    Swiss Regulatory Framework and Insolvency Protection

    Nu Global AG is a member of VQF, a self-regulatory organization recognized by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. Nu’s website says customer balances are covered by a Swiss bank default guarantee to the extent required by law if Nu Global AG becomes insolvent.

    This guarantee differs from FDIC deposit insurance. Nu’s announcement does not identify the guaranteeing bank, state a coverage amount, or explain how claims involving changes in stablecoin value would be calculated.

    Yield Source Undisclosed

    Nu has not identified the source of the advertised $USDC and $EURC yields in its release or SEC filing. It has not said whether the return comes from issuer rewards, reserve income, lending, treasury assets, or a subsidy funded by Nu. In related coverage, crypto.news reported that yield attached to stablecoins can carry risks outside ordinary bank-deposit protections, depending on which entity produces the return and how customer funds are deployed. Nu has not described its product as a decentralized finance strategy.

    National Bank Charter Remains in Organization Stage

    Nu applied to establish Nubank, National Association, on September 30, 2025. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted preliminary conditional approval on January 29, 2026. The OCC letter authorizes Nu to continue organizing the proposed bank but does not permit Nubank, N.A. to begin banking operations immediately.

    Before receiving final authorization, the proposed bank must meet the OCC’s preopening conditions, obtain FDIC deposit insurance, and apply for stock in a Federal Reserve Bank. The regulator retains authority to modify, suspend, or withdraw the preliminary approval.

    Nu said in January that it expected to capitalize the bank within 12 months and open it within 18 months, as required by the approval process. Those time frames point to regulatory work continuing into 2027 unless the company completes the requirements earlier.

    Once authorized, Nubank, N.A. expects to provide deposits, credit, lending, and digital-asset custody. The OCC letter says the proposed bank plans to support customer-directed purchases, sales, and on-chain transfers of bank-custodied digital assets, along with staking services. As crypto.news explained in its review of how OCC national charters govern crypto businesses, conditional approval does not equal authorization to begin operating. Applicants must complete capital, management, compliance, and operational requirements before receiving final approval.

    Nu is using Lead Bank to enter the market while its own charter remains in the organization stage. Customers opening current U.S. products therefore receive services from the partner bank, not from the proposed Nubank, N.A.

    Expansion Builds on Latin American Scale

    Nu reported more than 140 million customers across its existing markets when it announced the new products. The company operates in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, while its parent, Nu Holdings, has traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021.

    In Brazil, Nu says it serves more than 60% of the adult population. The company describes itself as Mexico’s largest digital bank and Colombia’s fourth-largest financial institution by deposits. Each ranking comes from Nu’s corporate announcement.

    The expansion follows Nu’s previous work with digital assets in Latin America. Its Brazilian crypto platform had more than 7 million customers by March 2026, when the company introduced staking-based rewards for Solana. Nucoin provided an earlier link between the company’s banking and token products. As crypto.news previously reported, Nubank created Nucoin as a blockchain-based customer rewards asset before adding more conventional crypto trading and stablecoin services.

    For its latest reported quarter, Nu said net income exceeded $1 billion and return on equity surpassed 32%. Its announcement did not provide separate spending estimates, customer projections, or profitability deadlines for the U.S. and Nu Global businesses.

    Staged Rollout Continues

    Access will expand through a staged release. Nu said early U.S. applicants may receive limited-edition metal Mastercard cards, while transfers to more countries, enhanced cashback, and the higher savings yield remain scheduled for later releases without firm public dates.

  • Ant International Joins Visa, Mastercard to Develop AI Agent Payment Standards

    Ant International Joins Visa, Mastercard to Develop AI Agent Payment Standards

    Ant International has partnered with Visa and Mastercard to develop common standards for identifying and monitoring AI agents as autonomous software takes on a larger role in global payments. The collaboration aims to create an interoperable “Know Your Agent” framework that lets merchants and payment providers verify which AI agents are behind transactions and whether they are authorized to act.

    Framework addresses projected growth in agentic commerce

    The initiative arrives as payment companies prepare for AI systems that can search for products, place orders, and make payments for consumers and businesses. Ant cited McKinsey projections that AI agents could handle between $3 trillion and $5 trillion of global consumer commerce by 2030.

    Jiang-Ming Yang, chief innovation officer at Ant International, emphasized that safeguards will be essential as agents gain more authority over financial transactions because AI systems can produce incorrect information or take actions users did not intend.

    “Trust is the foundation of the AI transformation,” Yang told CNBC.

    Interoperable identity system reduces friction

    Under the collaboration, Ant International, Visa, and Mastercard plan to establish common methods for linking an AI agent to a valid entity, evaluating its behavior, and monitoring its activity. The companies are focusing on interoperability between their separate systems so an agent that has already established its identity with one payment provider would not necessarily have to repeat the process with another.

    “If [an] agent registers with Ant, they don’t need to register again with Visa, Mastercard,” Yang said.

    Such a system would give merchants and payment processors a consistent way to determine which software agent is requesting a transaction and the party on whose behalf it is operating.

    Pablo Fourez, chief digital officer at Mastercard, said interoperability between Know Your Agent frameworks will be needed if agentic commerce is to operate across different platforms.

    “Interoperability across Know-Your-Agent frameworks is essential to making agentic commerce work at scale,” Fourez said, stressing the need for merchants and payment companies to consistently identify AI agents they can trust.

    Each company brings existing agent payment infrastructure

    Each of the three companies has spent the past year developing its own technology for AI-led payments. Mastercard on Wednesday launched Agent Connect, a system that gives merchants a single integration for product discovery, cart creation, and customer-approved payments across AI shopping platforms.

    Agent Connect works with Mastercard Agent Pay, which records customer authority through tokenized permissions when an AI system is allowed to make a purchase. Merchants and payment providers can use the permission to determine whether the transaction falls within instructions provided by the customer.

    Visa builds autonomous payment stack

    Visa has been developing a separate stack for autonomous payments. In April, the company introduced Intelligent Commerce Connect, bringing payment initiation, tokenization, authentication, and spending controls into infrastructure designed for AI agents.

    The system allows agents to search for products and complete transactions on behalf of consumers while using Visa’s existing payment network and security tools. Visa expanded that work in June with new AI and stablecoin capabilities, including a partnership with OpenAI to support payments within agentic commerce experiences. Its stablecoin settlement activity had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate at the time, crypto.news previously reported.

    Mastercard targets machine-to-machine transactions

    Mastercard has taken a similar route through Agent Pay for Machines. The company unveiled the payment network in June with support from more than 30 payment, blockchain, and technology companies, including Ripple, Coinbase, Stripe, Adyen, and the Solana Foundation.

    The network was built for transactions initiated by autonomous software, including high-volume and low-value payments. Users can set spending limits, authorization requirements, and settlement conditions, while transactions can run through conventional payment networks or stablecoin rails.

    Both card companies have consequently been developing controls for a payment environment in which the person buying a product may not directly interact with the merchant’s checkout page.

    Ant International adds digital wallet scale

    Ant International gives the collaboration access to another part of the global payments market through Alipay+, its cross-border payment and digitalization platform. More than 50 electronic wallets have partnered with Ant International through Alipay+, according to the company. Such wallets are widely used in markets where consumers frequently rely on mobile payment systems instead of physical credit or debit cards.

    Digital wallets represented 56% of global e-commerce transaction value and 33% of point-of-sale value in 2025, according to Worldpay data cited by the companies. Total spending through the payment method exceeded $13 trillion.

    Card networks and digital wallets have become increasingly connected as wallets add support for cards and other funding sources, giving AI payment systems multiple routes through which transactions could eventually be completed.

    Stablecoins emerge as machine payment rail

    Visa has already been testing combinations of AI payments and blockchain-based settlement. Wirex joined Visa’s Agentic Ready program in June to test AI agents making stablecoin payments, initially focusing on software subscriptions, marketing spending, and procurement.

    The tests were designed to determine how autonomous software could initiate financial transactions while preserving security controls and user authority.

    Stablecoins have become another part of the infrastructure being developed for machine-led transactions. Visa and Artemis said in July that stablecoins could be suited to low-value machine-to-machine payments, while traditional cards could continue handling consumer purchases.

    Alipay deploys consumer-facing AI ordering

    Ant’s work on payment standards is arriving as its former parent company’s Alipay platform begins putting AI-assisted purchasing tools in front of consumers. Ant International separated from Hangzhou-based Ant Group nearly three years ago. Ant Group operates Alipay, the mobile payment service widely used in mainland China.

    Alipay said Wednesday that users can now create recurring Starbucks requests through one of its AI features.

    “buy me a Starbucks iced Americano at 10 a.m. every day,” according to the announcement. The system can then place the requested order at the scheduled time before asking the customer to complete payment.

    The arrangement keeps the payment approval with the user even though the AI feature handles the recurring order. Alipay users can make recurring ride-hailing requests from Didi through the same AI tool, extending the automated system from retail purchases to transportation services.

  • Mastercard Launches Agent Connect for AI-Powered Commerce

    Mastercard Launches Agent Connect for AI-Powered Commerce

    Mastercard is expanding its payments infrastructure to support a new generation of AI-powered shopping experiences. The company introduced Agent Connect as merchants prepare for customers who rely on digital assistants to discover products.

    One Integration for AI Agents, Platforms, and Payment Providers

    The service gives businesses a single integration for connecting with AI agents, digital platforms, and payment providers. Mastercard also expanded its Agent Suite with tools designed to support product discovery, cart creation, and authorized purchases.

    New Tools Target Agent-Led Shopping

    Agent Connect lets AI agents guide shoppers through different stages of the buying process. However, Mastercard aims to keep merchants involved throughout that journey. Businesses can retain control over their brands, prices, and customer relationships.

    Additionally, Mastercard introduced Agent Pay to handle purchases initiated by AI agents. The system uses tokenized authorization to confirm a customer’s intent before completing transactions. Hence, agents cannot independently approve purchases without customer permission.

    Mastercard Builds Its AI Payment Strategy

    The rollout initially targets US consumers and includes partners such as Samsung and Trip.com. Brazilian digital services company Bemobi will also use the technology.

    Moreover, Mastercard already uses AI across roughly one-third of its services. Agent Connect extends that strategy into consumer payments. Consequently, the company is positioning secure authorization as a key requirement for agent-led commerce.