Mastercard partners with Australian Fintech Stables to enable Stablecoin payment

American multinational financial services firm Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) has entered into a strategic partnership with Stables, an Australian fintech startup to help promote the adoption of stablecoin in the APAC region. As reported by CoinTelegraph, the partnership will see users of the Stables platform make payments for goods and services using their USD Coin (USDC) anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

The collaboration was unveiled on March 20 and the service is billed to go live in the second quarter of this year. Stables will design a stablecoin-only digital wallet to support payment integration.

With the new service, Stables users can save and spend in USDC, but at the point of sale (POS) the digital currency will be converted to fiat before being used for the actual payment. This new feature is called a new frontier that could drive Web 3.0 adoption according to Kallan Hogan, Mastercard’s Fintech Manager for Australasia.

“Mastercard is committed to driving innovative payment solutions that give cardholders the freedom to spend their assets where, how and when they want,” Hogan said in a statement, adding that “Stables is building a solution for the Web3 sector that leverages Mastercard’s global network and cyber and intelligence tools, including CipherTrace and Ekata, with trust and security at their core.”

It is not uncommon to find mainstream financial services partnering with new Web 3.0 service providers. The Mastercard and Stables collaboration is undoubtedly beneficial to all parties, as it helps the former create an important channel to advance their push into the crypto ecosystem.

From Stable’s side, the new offer will help the brand gain exposure, continuing on the global positioning of Mastercard. The USDC payment service will be launched in Australia, initially, but has plans to expand to other countries in the near future.

Mastercard and stable collaboration: USDC Scare

The collaboration between both entities to improve USDC payments may attract some forms of skepticism due to fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) surrounding Circle, USDC, and the exposure to the three US banks that collapsed last week.

Referring to the current outlook, Daniel Li, Stable’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said there is no cause for concern and the company is confident about the future of USDC.

“Stablecoins will play a central role in the new financial system and will be at the core of bridging the worlds of traditional and decentralized finance. Stablecoins will continue to work with USDC and Circle as a central part of that ecosystem.”

Despite these assurances, users who want to try the payment system can also top up their mobile wallet with fiat as well as other forms of payments, including bank transfers. The aim is to offer a more flexible and reliable means of payment and Stables believes it can achieve this with Mastercard’s help.

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