Mastercard and Circle are strengthening their partnership to bring stablecoin settlement to acquiring institutions across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA).
The initiative will allow acquirers to settle transactions in USDC or EURC, marking the first time the region’s payments ecosystem gains access to regulated digital dollar and euro settlements.
The move builds on earlier collaborations between the two companies, including crypto card programs for Bybit and S1LKPAY that already use USDC to settle payments. By extending settlement options to acquirers, Mastercard aims to connect blockchain-native assets with traditional commerce infrastructure at scale.
Boosting Liquidity and Efficiency
Arab Financial Services and Eazy Financial Services will be the first to adopt the new system. Executives at both firms described the development as transformative, reducing friction in high-volume settlements while providing merchants with more liquidity and operational flexibility.
Mastercard’s Dimitrios Dosis said the partnership reflects a broader strategy to integrate stablecoins into mainstream finance. “Trust is essential to scale, and we are proud to apply our decades of experience in security and compliance to the stablecoin space,” he noted.
A Step Toward Borderless Payments
Circle Chief Business Officer Kash Razzaghi called the expansion “a pivotal step toward truly borderless, real-time commerce,” adding that wider adoption through Mastercard’s network will help make USDC “as ubiquitous as traditional payments.”
Mastercard, meanwhile, is positioning stablecoins as a core part of its long-term payments strategy. The company continues to pilot use cases in remittances, B2B transactions, and payouts for gig workers through initiatives like Mastercard Move and the Multi-Token Network. Its infrastructure tools, including Crypto Credential and Crypto Secure, are designed to ensure compliance and security as stablecoin adoption grows.
By extending stablecoin settlement to the EEMEA region, Mastercard and Circle are advancing efforts to bring digital currencies into regulated financial systems while offering businesses new tools to operate more efficiently in an increasingly global market.
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Source: https://coindoo.com/mastercard-expands-stablecoin-payments-with-circle-partnership/