MasterCard says stablecoins could theoretically enable faster and more efficient payments, but the supporting infrastructure still needs to be improved before their full potential can be unlocked.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to assets such as the US dollar to maintain a stable value.
Matthew Driver, Executive Vice President of Services for Asia-Pacific at MasterCard (NYSE: MA), said in an interview that stablecoins are attractive in some remittance corridors and for exotic currency exchange scenarios.
Driver noted that the industry needs to be wary of the "stablecoin sandwich" dilemma: the on-ramp process of moving funds into stablecoins is slow, the on-chain transaction in the middle is fast, but the off-ramp process of converting back into fiat currency becomes sluggish again. This model does not amount to faster payments overall.
He said that connecting real-time payment systems with stablecoin exchanges at both ends of the transaction could help accelerate the flow of funds, but only if the underlying infrastructure is improved and market participants can use this technology smoothly.
Opportunities for stablecoin adoption vary by region. Driver mentioned that Singapore's retail payment system is already highly efficient, leaving limited room for stablecoins in consumer-facing payment scenarios, while opportunities are greater on the enterprise side. Smart contracts are an important enterprise payment use case, enabling condition-triggered automatic transactions.
He believes that after the implementation of the US GENIUS Act, market attention on stablecoins has continued to rise.
These remarks come as MasterCard continues to expand its digital asset business. The company completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in August, and earlier this month, MasterCard partnered with BVNK to launch a global currency platform that uses a unified API interface to help banks, fintech companies and enterprises handle mixed fiat and stablecoin payment operations.
Driver added that beyond payment speed, MasterCard is also exploring the combination of blockchain and identity data to bring stablecoin payment systems to the same level of trust as traditional payments.
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