NEW YORK, March 6, 2026, 06:45 EST
- SoFi shares tacked on roughly 3% in the morning session after Mastercard said it would back SoFiUSD for network settlement.
- SoFi Bank is planning to settle its own Mastercard credit and debit card transactions using the stablecoin, according to the companies.
- TipRanks quoted a KBW analyst describing the tie-up as a “significant development.”
SoFi Technologies jumped roughly 3% Friday, following news that Mastercard is widening its partnership with the company—allowing SoFi’s U.S. dollar stablecoin to settle transactions directly on the card network.
This shift is significant: settlement—the process where money actually moves following a card transaction—is where delays, expenses, and liquidity issues show up. Payment companies are experimenting to see if stablecoins can smooth out some of those headaches, all without altering what customers experience when paying at the register.
SoFi is making another move into payments infrastructure, aiming beyond just its consumer lending and banking app business. The company’s Galileo platform could become more valuable for banks seeking quicker cross-border transfers and business payouts—if card issuers and merchant banks come onboard.
Mastercard announced that SoFiUSD will now be offered as a settlement option on its worldwide payments network. The company also confirmed that Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network—its digital asset platform linking conventional currency and tokenized assets—will support SoFiUSD.
SoFiUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, is fully backed by cash on a 1:1 basis, according to SoFi. The token is issued by SoFi Bank, which holds a national charter and deposit insurance. SoFi Bank plans to use SoFiUSD to settle its own Mastercard credit and debit activity, while Galileo clients and their issuing banks are set to get the same option.
“SoFiUSD is at the heart of our strategy to make it faster, cheaper, and safer for people around the world to move money,” SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said in the release. Mastercard’s Sherri Haymond added the partnership is “expanding how trusted digital currencies can be used at global scale.” Mastercard
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Tim Switzer called the partnership a “significant development,” according to TipRanks. TipRanks
The deal arrives as Mastercard and its competitors push deeper into crypto infrastructure, careful not to stray beyond regulatory boundaries. According to FinTech Futures, Mastercard already ran stablecoin settlement pilots with Circle’s USDC and has rolled out deals enabling users to pay with crypto straight from their wallets at merchants.
Mastercard’s bigger competitor Visa has been pushing further into stablecoin-linked initiatives, with programs broadening to include Bridge, operated by Stripe, according to Ledger Insights.
The leap from a press release to meaningful volume isn’t guaranteed. Stablecoin settlement hinges on how regulators handle it, banks’ appetite for compliance risk, and the willingness of big issuers and acquirers to overhaul back-office processes for a different rail—even if end users see no difference.
