Mastercard Taps Ripple's RLUSD for Cross-Border Card Settlements

Mastercard is exploring ways to settle card transactions in Ripple's RLUSD (RLUSD) across its network, integrating XRP Ledger-backed stablecoin rails with one of the world's largest payment systems.

The company is working with Gemini on an RLUSD settlement use case and expects the feature to go live in the first half of this year, according to Christian Rau, Mastercard's senior vice president for digital assets and blockchain.

Rau emphasized that stablecoins have entered the mainstream of financial services and can speed cross-border flows. He pointed out that Mastercard has roughly 150 million acceptance locations and 3.8 billion cards as the core advantage behind the integration approach.

'Think about stablecoins just another settlement currency within our network,' Rau said, adding that they offer benefits fiat currencies cannot match today.

Ripple launched RLUSD in December 2024, and the stablecoin has since been onboarded by exchanges, custodians, and payment firms seeking XRP Ledger settlement.