Leading payments provider Mastercard (NYSE:MA) has partnered with Australia’s stablecoin platform Stables to enable customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to spend their stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The two companies are launching a Stables virtual prepaid card that will allow users to spend their stablecoin balance on their daily purchases.
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Currently, crypto users are required to transfer their stablecoins from their wallet to an exchange to be converted to fiat, which then has to be moved to their bank account. This process can take up to a few days.
The new prepaid payment card will allow users to save and spend in the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin by converting the digital currency into fiat and settling the transaction on Mastercard’s network. The digital wallet will accept deposits in various stablecoins, all of which will be automatically converted into USDC at no cost.
Stables co-founder and COO Daniel Li told Cointelegraph that the Mastercard-enabled wallet integration will be available for users in Australia in the second quarter of 2023. It will then be rolled out to Europe, the U.S., the U.K., and most of the Asia Pacific.
Highlighting the advantage of the Stables virtual prepaid card, Stables stated that the card would give greater autonomy, unlock the true worth of stablecoins by allowing users to spend them like cash on everyday purchases, and “allows both banked and unbanked users to preserve their value from inflation in their local currency.”
Kallan Hogan, Vice President of Business Development and Head of Fintech, Australasia, Mastercard, stated,“Stables is building a solution for the Web3 sector Leveraging Mastercard’s global network and cyber and intelligence tools, including CipherTrace and Ekata, with trust and security at the core.”
Is Mastercard a Buy?
Mastercard continues to innovate new solutions to accelerate the adoption of digital payments and is also capturing opportunities in the crypto space. Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating for Mastercard based on 21 Buys and two Holds. The average Mastercard stock price target of $423.18 suggests 21.1% upside potential.
