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Visa and Mastercard aren’t buying the stable
Finance
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Visa and Mastercard aren’t buying the stable
Visa and Mastercard aren’t buying the stablecoin hype for everyday payments
Visa and Mastercard aren’t buying the stablecoin hype for everyday payments
Despite crypto’s promise of faster, cheaper transactions, the payments giants aren’t buying the stablecoin pitch, at least not in developed markets.
By Helene Braun|Edited by Nikhilesh De
Jan 30, 2026, 5:44 p.m.
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(Kateryna Ivanova/Unsplash)
What to know:
- Visa and Mastercard executives told investors they see little current product-market fit for stablecoins in everyday consumer payments, especially in digitally developed markets.
- Both card networks are experimenting with blockchain and stablecoin settlement but view most crypto activity today as trading and speculation rather than a near-term threat or opportunity to their core businesses.
- Despite their caution, onchain activity is growing rapidly, with bitcoin settling more value than Visa and Mastercard combined, while SoFi is pushing ahead on crypto as part of a broader strategy to pair blockchain innovation with bank-grade stability.
Wall Street’s payments giants are not sold on crypto’s usefulness in everyday transactions — at least not yet.
In earnings calls this week, both Visa and Mastercard executives offered cautious assessments of digital assets, especially stablecoins, signalling that consumer demand hasn't necessarily materialized in meaningful ways.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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“As I’ve said before, in the U.S., if a consumer wants to pay for something using a digital dollar, they have ample ways to do that today,” said Visa CEO Ryan McInerny. “They can pay from their checking account or their savings account. It’s become quite easy to do. So we don’t see a lot of product market fit for stablecoin payments and consumer payments in digitally developed markets.”
Stablecoins are meant to make payments faster by allowing money to move directly between parties on a blockchain, without going through banks or card networks. Unlike traditional payments, which can take days to settle, especially across borders, stablecoin transactions can clear in seconds and operate around the clock, including weekends and holidays.
In a September report, JP Morgan described stablecoins as “a digital, on-chain form of fiat money” that are “easy to self-custody and transact” and “fast, particularly in the context of cross-border money movement.” The bank said stablecoins could even be “a better form than fiat” in some situations, thanks to lower costs and around-the-clock settlement.
But the report also warned of risks, including the potential for a destabilizing run on stablecoins. “The collapse of TerraUSD in May 2022 highlights just how quickly a run can occur, in an asset class that trades 24/7,” analyst Joyce Ho wrote.
Mastercard struck a more open tone than Visa, with CEO Michael Mierbach saying the company is "leaning in" to emerging technologies like stablecoins and AI-powered agents but even he framed the company's role more as enabling infrastructure than leading transformation.
“For us, stablecoins are another currency we can support within our network,” Miebach said. He pointed to work with MetaMask, Ripple and Gemini, but emphasized that the current dominant use case remains trading, not payments.
"We've made good traction enabling the purchase of these assets, facilitating transactions, and supporting stablecoins for settlement over our network," he said.
Both companies have dabbled in blockchain infrastructure — Mastercard with pilots for on-chain identity and settlement tools, and Visa with experiments in stablecoin settlement using USDC. But despite these efforts, neither is treating crypto as a near-term threat or opportunity for their core businesses.
That stance contrasts with the scale of on-chain activity. According to data from Glassnode, bitcoin alone settled over $25 trillion worth of transactions in 2025, more than Visa ($17 trillion) and Mastercard ($11 trillion) combined. While Bitcoin’s volume includes high-frequency and large institutional transfers, the size reflects growing blockchain demand across financial applications.
SoFi's crypto push
Meanwhile, SoFi, the digital bank and fintech firm, is leaning into crypto more aggressively.
After beating Wall Street estimates in its fourth-quarter earnings, SoFi’s stock rose briefly before dropping, now 5% lower.
Just over 63,000 accounts were actively buying, selling, and holding digital assets in the fourth quarter of 2025, although the option only became fully available in late December. Nevertheless, the company said it sees crypto as part of a larger strategy.
CEO Anthony Noto told investors that SoFi is “moving with urgency to lead the next phase of financial services by delivering crypto and blockchain innovation backed by bank-grade stability and security.”
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