SoFi Bank Becomes First US National Bank to Activate Stablecoin Settlement on Mastercard's Global Network
SoFi Bank Becomes First US National Bank to Activate Stablecoin Settlement on Mastercard’s Global Network #
SoFi Technologies and Mastercard announced Monday that stablecoin-based card settlement is now live, making SoFi Bank the first nationally chartered US bank to move card volume onto blockchain rails across Mastercard’s global payments network.
SoFi Bank, N.A., regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and insured by the FDIC, is migrating its entire debit and credit card program to settlement in SoFiUSD, the bank’s own dollar-pegged stablecoin. The program is expected to handle more than $25 billion in annualized volume, according to the companies’ joint announcement.
SoFi launched SoFiUSD in December 2025, describing it as the first stablecoin issued by a US nationally chartered bank. The token is fully reserved and redeemable one-for-one for US dollars, with reserves backed primarily by cash and subject to periodic attestations by an independent US-licensed certified public accountant. It operates on both the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, with roughly 70 percent of outstanding supply on Solana, which became the stablecoin’s primary deployment chain in April 2026.
The partnership was first announced in March 2026. Monday’s go-live confirmation came roughly six months later. SoFi chief executive Anthony Noto noted in the company’s press release that the two firms had moved “from an idea to a live product that materially improves how money moves for businesses” in the span of half a year.
The implementation is designed to be largely invisible to merchants. Businesses that accept SoFi-issued cards do not need to hold stablecoins, build new blockchain infrastructure, or alter existing point-of-sale systems. Settlement flows through SoFi’s Big Business Banking platform, where merchants can withdraw funds as cash around the clock without a withdrawal fee, removing friction that has slowed crypto adoption at the point of sale.
For Mastercard, the SoFi deployment is the first live instance of a stablecoin settlement framework the network unveiled in June 2026. That program spans eight blockchain networks, including Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo, and the XRP Ledger, and is designed to support multiple regulated stablecoins alongside SoFiUSD, including Circle’s USDC and Ripple’s RLUSD.
The two companies said they plan to extend SoFiUSD settlement to cross-border payments and remittances. SoFi confirmed it is in active discussions with large US merchants about stablecoin-based settlement through its banking platform.
Copy link