SoFi moves $25B Mastercard program to stablecoin rails

SoFi moved settlement and payment flows for a $25 billion Mastercard card program onto a blockchain system that uses dollar-pegged stablecoins, the company announced. Mastercard will continue to handle card authorization and processing while value transfers for parts of the program will occur on tokenized rails.

SoFi, a U.S. fintech that issues cards and offers banking and investment services, said the transition routes settlement through stablecoins instead of relying only on traditional bank-to-bank clearing. The change applies to the portfolio that supports SoFi-issued Mastercard products.

Stablecoin-based settlement can allow transfers to settle around the clock and in near real time, rather than waiting for overnight or multi-day bank clearing cycles. The blockchain ledger records token movements that participants can use for reconciliation and reporting.

SoFi did not disclose full operational details. The company did not specify which token standards will be used, how tokens will be held, or the custodial arrangements backing the tokens. SoFi will need to coordinate liquidity management, on- and off-ramps between bank deposits and tokenized balances, and anti-money-laundering and customer-protection controls.

U.S. regulators and lawmakers remain focused on stablecoin activity. Stablecoins are designed to maintain a fixed value relative to a fiat currency, most commonly the U.S. dollar, and are promoted as an option for faster settlement and cross-border transfers. Policymakers have emphasized requirements for reserve transparency, consumer safeguards and oversight of entities offering tokenized payment instruments; firms working with stablecoins typically involve legal and compliance teams to align with existing bank and securities rules.

For cardholders, the change is primarily a backend adjustment and should not affect daily card use, authorization processes or consumer protections established under card network and bank rules.

Payment firms, banks and card networks have run pilots and launched services that use tokenized fiat or fiat-pegged tokens to settle payments. Mastercard has explored tokenization and partnerships with crypto infrastructure providers to enable faster settlement and programmable payments. Moving a large existing card program onto tokenized settlement is one of the larger consumer-facing applications of stablecoins to date.

Market participants and regulators will watch how SoFi manages reserve transparency, custodial arrangements and coordination with Mastercard and banking partners.