SoFi’s SoFiUSD becomes first bank-issued stablecoin to settle Mastercard payments

SoFi Technologies announced on March 3, 2026, an enhanced partnership with Mastercard that makes SoFiUSD a settlement option across Mastercard’s global payments network, the first time a U.S. nationally chartered and insured deposit bank has issued a stablecoin that settles transactions on a public, permissionless blockchain, according to the companies’ joint statement.

Under the deal, SoFi Bank, N.A. will settle its own Mastercard-powered credit and debit card transactions in SoFiUSD, while Galileo, SoFi’s technology platform, will be among the first to give other issuing banks and their card clients the option to settle in the stablecoin, per Mastercard’s newsroom statement.

“SoFiUSD is at the heart of our strategy to make it faster, cheaper, and safer for people around the world to move money,” said Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, in the announcement.

“With SoFiUSD as a settlement currency across Mastercard’s network, card issuers and acquirers can more easily enable the millions of businesses they serve around the globe to instantly settle transactions, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

SoFiUSD is issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., an OCC-regulated insured depository institution, and is fully reserved 1:1 by cash for immediate redemption, the company said. The stablecoin will also integrate with the Mastercard Multi-Token Network, which Mastercard has positioned as infrastructure for interoperability between fiat currencies, stablecoins and tokenised deposits.

The partnership targets faster settlement for cross-border remittances and B2B money transfers, and the companies said future phases could extend to programmable treasury applications and additional payout scenarios.

Mastercard has tested stablecoin settlement since 2021, when it first worked with Circle on a USDC pilot, and has since built partnerships with Kraken, OKX and MetaMask that let users spend stablecoins from crypto wallets at more than 150 million merchant locations.

The tie-up lands as stablecoin activity accelerates across traditional finance. Roughly $30 billion in stablecoins changes hands daily, and issuance doubled in 2025 from the year before, according to figures cited in SoFi and Mastercard’s joint statement.

More than half of crypto holders say they held stablecoins in the past year, and over 75% say they’d open a stablecoin wallet if their bank or fintech app offered one.