A Mastercard subsidiary has been granted a BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), positioning Mastercard to directly transmit and settle in stablecoins rather than relying on third party licensed intermediaries.
The significance becomes clearer when you look at how card networks have handled stablecoin settlement to date and what changes the BitLicense enables.
Under New York’s virtual currency regulations, a BitLicense is required for any entity that receives or transmits virtual currency, holds custody of it, performs conversions, or buys and sells it as a business. Until now, card networks have been able to facilitate stablecoin transactions without one, by keeping the stablecoin activity at arm’s length.
The clearest comparison is Visa. In 2021 Visa started piloting and scaling USDC settlement with issuers and acquirers, reaching a $7 billion annualized run rate by April 2026. In December 2025 it expanded USDC settlement to U.S. banks including Cross River Bank and Lead Bank over the Solana blockchain.
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