That momentum is beginning to reshape corporate behaviour. Mega retailers like Walmart Inc. are considering stablecoin pilots, according to the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this month, bank technology provider Fiserv Inc. introduced its own fiat-backed token to help smaller financial institutions keep pace with payment innovation.
Still, displacing card networks won’t be easy, especially in the US, where consumers are used to rewards, fraud protection and credit access — perks not easily replaced. Stablecoins offer limited advantages at the checkout and, for many, crypto remains unfamiliar or suspect. Stablecoin balances aren’t expected to carry FDIC insurance, and consumer protections may differ sharply from regular cards. For merchants, new technology may bring compliance, tax and operational risks.
Digital proponents are pressing ahead, regardless. Shopify Inc. recently partnered with Stripe Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc. to let merchants accept USDC, a dollar-backed stablecoin from Circle. Behind the scenes, the payment can take place without ever touching a card network. Instead, it’s processed entirely on a blockchain protocol, which allows merchants to accept USDC directly into their own crypto wallets or instantly convert it into local currency paid out to their bank account.
Shopify will be offering 1% cash-back to customers who pay with USDC. The rewards will also be paid in USDC.
Coinbase has launched its own payments platform to enable stablecoin acceptance across more e-commerce providers.
“It’s hard to change consumer payment preferences but, unlike in the past, the wheels are in motion for a dramatic shift in consumer payment preferences,” said Richard Crone, chief executive officer of payments consulting firm, Crone Consulting.
Read more: Visa, Mastercard Fall Amid Stablecoin Competitive Fears
That pressure is forcing Visa and Mastercard, which combined hold more than 85% of total US card spending, to go on the offensive. Both are promoting their global merchant reach, fraud protection, consumer privacy and brand trust. The networks’ tokenisation technology, for example, obscures sensitive account information to protect consumers when they buy online.
“We’ve been tokenising access to value for a very long time now,” said Jack Forestell, chief product and strategy officer at Visa. “Now the value that underlies that token, by and large, is either bank accounts or credit lines, debit and credit cards, but there’s absolutely no reason that can’t be a stablecoin or another cryptocurrency.”
Digital future
Both networks have dabbled with integrating stablecoin into their ecosystems since at least 2021, but the renewed energy around the technology is pushing those efforts back into the spotlight, and spurring greater investments. Visa Ventures, for example, invested in stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK earlier this year. Financial institutions can use a platform from the network to issue fiat-backed digital tokens.
Mastercard recently announced it’s joining the Paxos Global Dollar Network. This will allow Paxos to help institutions on its network mint and redeem a stablecoin known as USDG while also providing support for stablecoins including Fiserv’s FIUSD, PayPal’s PYUSD, and Circle’s USDC.
The network also gives users detailed control over how payments are routed. A transaction under $100 might draw from a checking account, larger ones from credit lines, and certain merchants from a crypto wallet — all tied to a single payment identity.
“We shouldn’t assume that overnight, stablecoins will replace existing card payments or fiat,” said Jorn Lambert, chief product officer at Mastercard. “We think this is much more about new use cases and new opportunities than about replacing the existing system, especially in remittances, disbursements and business-to-business payments.”
Visa’s Forestell notes that every prior disruption — from mobile wallets to buy-now-pay-later — triggered similar warnings. In the end, corporate adaptation won out.
“When you’re crypto natives, you can send money back and forth, but if you want to use that in a broad-scale manner for your everyday purposes, you need that hyperscale connectivity, and we provide the best on-ramp to that,” Forestell said.
