Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s Chief Product Officer, described the initiative as a “360-degree approach” that enables consumers to spend stablecoins while allowing merchants to accept them with ease.

150 Million Merchants Can Now Accept Stablecoins

The stablecoin market has surged in the past year, reaching a total value of over $230 billion, a 54% increase year-over-year. USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle) dominate around 90% of the market.

You Might Be Interested In: Elon Musk Talks About the Name of a New Memecoin!

According to a report by Artemis and Dune, active stablecoin wallets have grown by over 50% in the past 12 months. Investment bank Citigroup predicted in an April 23 report that the market could hit $3.7 trillion by 2030 due to regulatory clarity and growing institutional interest.

Partnerships With OKX and MetaMask Strengthen Card Utility

Beyond enabling merchants to receive stablecoins, Mastercard is also helping users spend them in the real world. The company launched the OKX Card in partnership with crypto exchange OKX, enabling seamless spending of digital assets.

On the same day, MetaMask and Mastercard revealed a crypto card that lets users make self-custodied payments via smart contracts, with transaction speeds under five seconds.

Mastercard has previously collaborated with Binance, Kraken, and Crypto.com on similar crypto-enabled debit card products.

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MetaMask Adds Bitcoin and Solana Support, Aims to Eliminate Gas Fees

MetaMask, a self-custodial crypto wallet, is set to expand its support to Bitcoin and Solana networks as part of upcoming updates throughout the year, with the ultimate goal of eliminating gas fees.

Bitcoin integration is planned for the third quarter, while Solana will become the first non-Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain supported by MetaMask in May, according to a post by MetaMask’s Dan Finlay on February 27.

Swap transactions with gas included — allowing users to pay with the token they’re swapping — will soon be updated to enable payments with any token they hold.

MetaMask has stated its long-term goal of completely eliminating gas fees: “In the long run, we believe we can remove gas as a user-facing concern in almost all interactions. (We’ll get to that!)”

The wallet will also roll out a new home screen design, enabling users to view all their assets across chains without navigating each one, with a focus on creating a simple, user-friendly wallet experience.

Smart Transactions and New Features

MetaMask is taking a further step in smart transactions by implementing ERC-5792, known as batched transactions, which will allow users to complete common transaction sequences like “Approve & Swap” with a single click, saving time and fees.

Additionally, MetaMask will transition from Externally Owned Accounts to smart contract-based accounts, enabling more powerful use of user assets while enhancing security. A feature to manage multiple Secret Recovery Phrases from a single wallet will also be added.

MetaMask’s new developments received praise from X platform user fairo.eth, who noted that MetaMask has gained significant market share from competitor wallets Phantom and Rabby recently.

MetaMask Card Launched

MetaMask also introduced MetaMask Card, aimed at bringing crypto into the “real world.” According to the company, the MetaMask Card will connect users’ self-custody wallets to millions of vendors globally through Mastercard’s payment network.

The cards are already available in some countries and showcase the company’s new logo.

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