Mastercard has secured a BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services as part of its long-term strategy supporting stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The approval reflects the company's compliance focus in digital assets, backed by significant resources, a planned $1.8 billion acquisition and new partnerships with firms including SoFi.
Obtaining a BitLicense is famously difficult and expensive.
https://x.com/Mastercard/status/2059646754996232640
Clear regulatory frameworks play an important role in building trust and confidence.
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SoFi has begun settling its card program with Mastercard using SoFiUSD, targeting more than $25 billion in expected annualized volume after migration. The change provides faster onchain settlement while leaving consumer cards and merchant systems unchanged.
Sony Bank received preliminary conditional OCC approval to form Connectia Trust, a New York-based subsidiary capitalized with $40 million to manage dollar-denominated stablecoins. The approval arrives as stablecoin transaction volumes hit a record $1.79 trillion last month, intensifying competition in a market dominated by USDT and USDC.
Revolut will stop supporting USDT purchases from July 6 and fully delist the stablecoin after Aug. 31, automatically converting leftover holdings. The move reflects ongoing European regulatory pressure on non-compliant stablecoins such as Tether's USDT.
Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and over 140 businesses launched Open Standard to issue Open USD, a US dollar-tied stablecoin expected later in 2026. The move follows the GENIUS Act signed into law on July 18, 2025, which created a new regulatory framework and aims to expand stablecoin use beyond crypto trading.
SBI Holdings will gain full control of Bitbank through a $289 million transaction that creates Japan’s largest crypto exchange by assets under custody, targeting 1.1 trillion yen and 2.92 million accounts while expanding its stablecoin, tokenization and blockchain infrastructure.
