Mastercard is introducing settlement options in USDC and EURC stablecoins for acquirers and merchants in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region.
Mastercard announced an expanded partnership with Circle to integrate USDC and EURC settlements into the EEMEA acquiring network. This marks the first time that acquirers and merchants in these countries will be able to use stablecoins for transactions via Mastercard’s global network.
Acquirers will now be able to receive settlements directly in Circle-issued USDC or EURC. This approach aims to speed up and simplify merchant payments, providing greater liquidity and reducing costs traditionally associated with processing large transaction volumes.
The strategic goal of the project is to integrate stablecoins into the traditional financial system, turning them into everyday payment instruments. The first participants in the initiative are Arab Financial Services and Eazy Financial Services.
Dimitrios Dosis, President of Mastercard EEMEA, emphasized that the company aims to facilitate the transition of payment instruments from fiat money to tokenized and programmable digital assets, building on its longstanding expertise in security and regulatory compliance.
Circle’s Chief Business Officer Kash Razzaghi noted that expanding USDC settlements through Mastercard’s network paves the way for truly borderless commerce, making stablecoins as common a means of payment as traditional currencies.
Max Krupyshev, CEO of CoinsPaid , highlighted in a 2025 report for AmCham Estonia members that dollar-pegged stablecoins are becoming the key driver of crypto adoption in business processes, as they meet real user needs while providing stability, universality, and ease of integration.
The expanded partnership with Circle is just one of Mastercard’s global initiatives in digital assets. The company supports an increasing number of stablecoins, including PayPal’s PYUSD and Paxos’ USDG , and is developing projects in cross-border payments, B2B transactions, and freelancer payouts through the Mastercard Move and Multi-Token Network (MTN) platforms. Reliability and compliance of operations are ensured by Crypto Credential and Crypto Secure services, which guarantee adherence to the highest security standards.
