Mastercard Launches Global Crypto Partner Program With 85 Industry Players

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Mastercard just launched a Crypto Partner Program, bringing together more than 85 crypto native companies, payments providers, and financial institutions. 

The goal is to connect chain innovation with the global payments infrastructure that already moves trillions every year.

And the list includes some of the biggest names in the industry: PayPal, Ripple, Circle, Gemini, Paxos, and even Binance.

Digital assets are entering a new phase. What once operated in parallel to traditional finance is increasingly being used for cross-border remittances, B2B transfers, payouts, and settlement.

Mastercard wants those capabilities connected directly to existing card rails and global commerce flows. Faster. Programmable. But still operating within systems that already work at a global scale.

Here’s a quick overview directly from Mastercard. In the short video below, the company reveals the partners behind the Crypto Partner Program: 👇

Now the next step is clear. Mastercard is building a collaboration layer between crypto builders and traditional finance to turn blockchain innovation into a scalable payment infrastructure.

This move follows a broader push from Mastercard into digital assets. Earlier this year, Mastercard joined the Paxos Global Dollar Network, expanding support for stablecoins like PYUSD, FIUSD, and USDC across its ecosystem.

On-chain capabilities are steadily moving closer to the rails that power global commerce...

And this isn’t the only shift worth watching today. Scroll down 👇 And let’s dive into a few more below.

Cheers,

Marcel

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FINTECH NEWS

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🇿🇦 FNB revamps eWallet with WhatsApp integration and credit features. The update aims to transform the platform from a simple remittance tool into a functional entry-level “digital account” for those who struggle to meet traditional banking requirements.

🇺🇸 Binance sues Wall Street Journal as newspaper says U.S. Dept. of Justice is investigating Iran transactions. Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, accusing it of falsely claiming the exchange fired staff who raised compliance concerns and mishandled Iran-linked transactions.

🇧🇪 Swift accelerates consumer payments transformation with new retail transaction framework. Designed to elevate the cross-border retail payment experience, the initiative promises to deliver next-generation speed, predictability, and affordability to everyday international transactions.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🌏 Mastercard simplifies cross-border payments for Asia Pacific SMEs. Mastercard announced that it is introducing Mastercard Global Commerce Suite for Small Businesses, a set of holistic capabilities powered by Mastercard Move, designed to help banks support the evolving, cross-border needs of time-strapped SMEs.

🇦🇺 Ripple seeks an Australian financial license to 'scale' payments across the region. The license will allow Ripple to oversee settlement, connect customers with local payout partners, and route transactions through a single integration rather than multiple intermediaries.

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇬🇧 Revolut launches UK Bank. Revolut Bank UK has received approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority. This milestone means that it will be able to start offering accounts as a fully licensed bank for retail and business customers. It enables Revolut to offer deposit accounts protected by the FSCS on eligible deposits.

🇧🇪 Revolut surpasses one million customers in Belgium. The British FinTech company continues to gain ground in the Belgian market. Revolut has just surpassed the one million customer mark there and intends to continue its growth. Additionally, Revolut’s customer base in the Netherlands has grown 50% over the past year to 1.5 million users, up from 1 million. The FinTech expects continued expansion, targeting 2 million customers by 2027.

🇺🇸 Upstart to apply for a bank charter for efficiency. Upstart Holdings has announced plans to apply for a U.S. national bank charter with the OCC and FDIC to establish Upstart Bank, N.A. If approved, the move would allow the AI-driven lending platform to streamline operations, access deposit funding, and expand its AI-based credit offerings.

🇲🇽 Ualá sees no major risks for Mexico in 2026. Ualá announced plans to launch fractional shares in the country, allowing its three million users to invest in U.S. stocks and ETFs starting from 20 pesos with no fees. The initiative is part of the FinTech’s broader strategy to promote financial inclusion and expand investment access in the country.

🇲🇽 Openbank Mexico surpassed 500,000 users in its first year of operations and expects continued growth as digital banking expands in the country. CEO Juan José Galnares said 2026 could see a surge in new users entering the formal financial system through digital banks and new FinTech players.

🇲🇽 Klar is seeking a banking license in Mexico to expand into payroll services and the business segment, areas currently limited to banks. CEO Stefan Möller said the FinTech remains financially strong as a Sofipo, with over 7 billion pesos in loans and more than 8 billion pesos in deposits, while continuing to grow steadily.

🇿🇦 Chikwama Pay and Paymentology power Africa’s first WhatsApp-based borderless neo-bank. Together, they are powering Africa’s WhatsApp-enabled neo-bank with fully integrated borderless payment processing, bringing secure, seamless, and affordable financial services to millions of underserved people across the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🌎 Mastercard launches new Crypto Partner Program. Through the program, participants will engage with Mastercard teams on the design and direction of future products and services, including solutions that aim to bring the speed and programmability that digital assets offer, together with established card rails and global commerce flows.

🌍 The ECB launches Appia, the new infrastructure for integrating tokenized euro payments. The special technological circuit will reduce costs and increase the speed, efficiency, and reliability of financial transactions by making possible trading, clearing, settlement, custody, and related services in a single 'coded file' on a single platform available 24/7, 365 days a year.

🇺🇸 Circle Nanopayments launches on Testnet as the core primitive for agentic economic activity. Nanopayments provides the financial rail for the emerging agentic economy. It lets developers power pay-per-call, pay-per-use, and machine-to-machine flows where agents can send fractions of a cent in USDC nearly instantly, without paying gas fees per individual payment.

🇬🇧 BOE open to changing stablecoin caps after industry backlash. A senior Bank of England official indicated that UK regulators may reconsider proposed limits on stablecoin holdings after industry backlash. The central bank said it is open to alternative approaches to managing risks.

🇦🇹 The investment platform Bitpanda released its business results for 2025. Bitpanda’s adjusted revenue rose by 16% to 371 million euros in fiscal year 2025, compared to 321 million euros in 2024. However, adjusted EBITDA developed quite differently.

🇺🇸 Wells Fargo files WFUSD trademark for crypto payments and trading. The filing outlines a broad list of potential products and services linked to digital assets, including cryptocurrency trading services, cryptocurrency exchange services, cryptocurrency payment processing, financial brokerage services for cryptocurrency trading, and electronic transfer of virtual currencies.

PARTNERSHIPS

🇻🇳 Mastercard, VPBank, and Điện Máy Xanh launch the VPBank MWG Mastercard credit card. The collaboration is intended to deliver everyday value to consumers while enhancing their digital lifestyles and supporting Vietnam’s transition towards a more cashless, digitally enabled economy.

🇵🇭 TransUnion Philippines and Mastercard collaborate to expand access to responsible credit. The collaboration supports stronger decision‑making, more meaningful customer engagement for lenders, and sustainable growth across the Philippines’ lending ecosystem.

🇺🇸 Payoneer and FundPark collaborate to expand dynamic, frictionless credit access for global E-commerce sellers. Through this collaboration, FundPark will provide its AI‑driven digital financing solutions to eligible Payoneer customers. The collaboration enables access to a flexible line of credit offered by FundPark for cross-border e-commerce businesses.

🇮🇳 PayU and CoRover.ai to enable AI voice payments in 100+ Indian languages. The companies said the partnership will allow AI agents to initiate and complete transactions directly within chat or voice interactions. Continue reading

🌏 Global virtual travel card program launched by Visa and Trip.com to make travel payments simpler and more seamless in the Asia Pacific. Through this collaboration, Trip.com Group will introduce a virtual travel card program issued in partnership with Visa via Trip.com Group's FinTech arm, TripLink.

🇺🇸 BitGo invests in Ubyx and joins as a settlement agent to accelerate institutional digital asset infrastructure. BitGo B&T's digital asset infrastructure will deliver institutional-grade custody and settlement services, enabling the secure movement of regulated digital assets between issuers and receiving institutions.

🇨🇦 PayBright invests in Material to expand retail POS ecosystem. Under the agreement, Material will serve as PayBright’s preferred POS solution for retail, adding to the payments company’s more than two dozen existing industry collaborations.

🇺🇸 Thredd and Cross River to accelerate expansion into the US market for global FinTechs. The arrangement enables Thredd to introduce a curated pipeline of high-potential FinTech clients from various geographic regions. In turn, Thredd’s clients benefit from Cross River’s proven ability to deliver compliant, scalable banking infrastructure and principal network sponsorship.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

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🇬🇧 Outpost raises $17.5M to make international selling ‘as easy as domestic’ amid tariffs. With the new funding, Outpost plans to accelerate product development, expand into additional jurisdictions, and grow its team to meet rising demand for cross-border commerce infrastructure.

M&A

🇬🇧 OakNorth acquires Monite to expand business banking capabilities. The transaction will enable OakNorth to "integrate robust accounts receivable, accounts payable, and expense management functionality directly into its business banking offering", the bank says.

🇨🇦 RBC acquires FinTech company Pinch Financial, terms not immediately available. RBC says the acquisition will help the bank offer a faster, simpler mortgage experience for borrowers. Read more

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇧🇷 Kim Farrell to join Nu as Global Marketing Director. Kim will be responsible for leading the development of Nu’s global brand architecture and governance, brand campaigns, and global partnerships; and ensuring brand excellence and consistency as the company accelerates its international expansion.

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