- U.S. Bancorp successfully piloted its USBDC stablecoin to settle a cross-border payment between North American and European entities on the Stellar blockchain.
- BVNK and Marqeta partnered to allow companies to issue stablecoin-backed payment cards, enabling users to spend digital dollars at standard merchant terminals.
- Mastercard connects both initiatives, having closed its BVNK acquisition in August while remaining a major partner for Marqeta.
U.S. Bancorp completed a live test on Wednesday using its private dollar-backed stablecoin, USBDC, to settle a cross-border payment between bank entities in North America and Europe. The transaction was executed on the Stellar blockchain while integrated with the bank’s core finance, risk, compliance, and operational systems.
Jamie Walker, Head of Digital Assets at U.S. Bank, called it “another step forward for our broader digital asset strategy.” The pilot tested minting, payment redemption, freezing, and clawback features, with the bank now exploring liquidity management and cross-border treasury operations as future applications.
Separately, BVNK and Marqeta announced a partnership to provide stablecoin-backed card capabilities to fintech and non-crypto companies. The integration allows Marqeta customers to add stablecoin features to their cards, letting users spend digital dollars at any merchant that accepts payment cards.
Chris Harmsey, BVNK co-founder, said the firm’s role is “to make that infrastructure invisible,” so developers do not need deep blockchain expertise. Marqeta processed nearly $400 billion in payment volume in 2025, while BVNK reported over $39 billion in processed payment volume.
Anthony Peculic, Marqeta’s Chief Strategy Officer, said stablecoins are “becoming a durable complementary layer in global money movement.” He added the partnership lets customers issue cards that work everywhere without requiring merchants to change their payment acceptance.
The partnership connects Marqeta to two parts of Mastercard’s network simultaneously. Since closing its acquisition of BVNK in August, Mastercard has operated the stablecoin infrastructure, with the deal valued at up to $1.8 billion.
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