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Marqeta’s Mastercard will power Australian prepaid crypto card from Stables Marqeta’s Mastercard will power Australian prepaid crypto card from Stables

Marqeta’s Mastercard will power Australian prepaid crypto card from Stables

Mastercard will reportedly power the card for Australian stablecoin firm Stables, as announced by Marqeta in a March 20 press release.

Marqeta’s Mastercard will power Australian prepaid crypto card from Stables

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

Mastercard will reportedly power the card for Australian stablecoin firm Stables, as announced by mutual partner Marqeta in a March 20 press release.

The partnership will allow Stables โ€” which currently offers a digital wallet and stores balances in the USDC stablecoin โ€” to issue Mastercard prepaid cards through Marqeta.

Marqeta Mastercards will power payments

When the card becomes available, users will be able to spend the balance from their Stables wallet wherever Mastercard cards are accepted โ€” both online and in physical locations. Marqeta’s Just-in-Time Funding funding feature means that users will not be required to preload balances โ€” as is required by some other crypto-enabled prepaid cards.

In addition to its soon-to-launch payment card, Stables is also preparing to introduce wallet-to-wallet transfers and interest-bearing “earn” features.

Though the press release does not provide a launch date, Stables’ website suggests that the card will be available beginning in early 2023, implying a launch in the near future.

Reports from Cointelegraph suggest that the card will be available in Australia before it becomes globally available in the U.S., U.K, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

How is Mastercard involved?

Marqeta works in close partnership with Mastercard as well as its competitor, Visa. In October 2020, Mastercard announced that it would expand its global partnership with Marqeta to launch new card programs in various regions.

Kallan Hogan, Vice President of Business Development and Head of Fintech, Australasia, detailed Mastercard’s involvement a press release sent to Crypto Briefing. He said that Stables’ payment card will rely on Mastercard’s global network and services โ€” including its recent blockchain surveillance acquisition Ciphertrace.

Mastercard powers several other crypto-enabled cards, including those offered by
Nexo, Uphold, Wirex, Bitpay, Revolut, and various other crypto firms.

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