SoFi Technologies and Mastercard have started processing transactions for SoFi Bank's card program using the stablecoin SoFiUSD. The entire portfolio of the bank's debit and credit cards, with an annual transaction volume exceeding $25 billion, has been moved to the blockchain. SoFiUSD is issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., which holds a federal banking license and is supervised by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The stablecoin can be exchanged for dollars at a 1:1 ratio, with the majority of its reserves held in cash. Thus, the blockchain is used directly in the settlement infrastructure of the card program, rather than just as an additional tool for individual transfers.
The SoFi and Mastercard project was launched following a partnership agreement between the companies in March 2026. One of the key scenarios involves working with SoFi's corporate clients. Through the Big Business Banking platform, merchants can receive funds into a bank account and then withdraw them in regular dollars, without the need to store stablecoins themselves or create separate technical infrastructure. This mechanism allows the internal on-chain part of the settlements to be separated from the business's usual use of bank accounts. For Mastercard, the launch also continues the development of its own digital payment infrastructure, within which the company is expanding support for regulated stablecoins and their use in payment operations.
In the future, the companies plan to explore additional use cases for this model, including cross-border payments and transfers between financial system participants. Mastercard is simultaneously developing infrastructure for operations with fiat currencies and digital assets, while SoFi is discussing the use of stablecoins in settlements with large trading companies. However, the new scheme does not mean that end cardholders need to interact with cryptocurrency themselves: settlements within the infrastructure can occur in SoFiUSD, while funds remain available to the merchant in traditional dollar form. This approach demonstrates how banking stablecoins can be used as an intermediary settlement layer between blockchain infrastructure and the existing payment system.
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