Mastercard collaborates with Stables to accept stablecoin payments in APAC region
Proactive Investors
Published Mar 21, 2023 16:34
Updated Mar 21, 2023 17:00
Mastercard collaborates with Stables to accept stablecoin payments in APAC region
Mastercard (NYSE:MA) has teamed up with Australian stablecoin platform Stables to provide retail customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region the ability to use their stablecoins at any merchant that accepts Mastercard payments.
Stables has developed a stablecoin-only wallet that comes with a payment card supported by Mastercard, enabling users to save and spend USD Coin (USDC).
The wallet will accept deposits in several stablecoins, including Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) but all deposits will be converted into USDC automatically and at no cost.
The integration is expected to become available in the June quarter and will initially be launched in Australia, before expanding to Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom and most of Asia Pacific.
What is a stablecoin?
A stablecoin is a type of digital asset that is issued by a private company and transferred through blockchain technology.
The primary purpose of stablecoins is to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions and they are generally pegged to a reference asset, such as the US dollar.
Stablecoins offer several benefits over other digital assets, such as free-floating cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which derive their value from market supply and demand, resulting in frequent price fluctuations.
On the other hand, stablecoins provide greater price stability due to their pegged value to a reference asset.
Other types of digital assets include central bank digital currencies, which are digital versions of paper money issued by a country's central bank, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are unique digital representations of assets, such as art or collectables.
Read more on Proactive Investors AU
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