US-based multinational financial services firm Mastercard has entered a strategic partnership with Stables , an Australian fintech startup. The partnership will want to help advance stablecoin adoption in the APAC region.

From now on, users of the Stables platform can make payments for goods and services using their USD Coin (USDC) anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The collaboration was unveiled on 20 March 2023 and the service is billed to go live in the second quarter of the year. Stables is set to 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. Willing to support innovative payment solutions that give cardholders the freedom to spend their assets where, how, and when they want, Mastercard is pleased to have partnered Stables. The Australian company is building a solution for the Web3 sector using Mastercard’s global network and cyber and intelligence tools, including CipherTrace and Ekata, with trust and security at the core, as representatives say.

The partnership benefiting both companies It is not uncommon to find mainstream financial services firms that partner with emerging Web 3. 0 service providers. The Mastercard and Stables collaboration is arguably beneficial to all parties as it helps the former create a major conduit to advance its push into the crypto ecosystem.

On the part of Stables, the new offering will help its brand gain exposure, riding on the global positioning of Mastercard. The USDC payment service will be launched in Australia to begin with but has plans to expand to other countries in the near future. The collaboration between both entities to enhance USDC payment might attract some forms of scepticism owing to the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) surrounding Circle, USDC, and the exposure to the three US banks that collapsed recently.

However, Stables representatives said there is no cause for alarm and that the company is confident in the future of the USDC. They believe that stablecoins will play a pivotal role in the new financial system and will be core to bridging the worlds of traditional and decentralised finance. For this purpose, Stables will continue to work with USDC and Circle trying to be a pivotal part of that ecosystem.

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