Ripple, Mastercard and Gemini Launch Stablecoin-Based Card Settlement

Ripple has confirmed a collaboration with Mastercard, Gemini, and WebBank to enable settlement of traditional fiat card payments using Ripple’s newly introduced stablecoin, RLUSD, on the XRP Ledger. The initiative is being positioned as a milestone for the payments industry, where blockchain infrastructure is used not to drive direct crypto purchases, but to improve the efficiency of existing financial systems.

The arrangement will be applied to the Gemini Credit Card, with WebBank acting as the regulated U.S. banking institution responsible for settlement. Industry observers have highlighted that this represents the first time a fully regulated American bank will process conventional card transactions using a stablecoin on a public blockchain, combining regulatory compliance with real-time settlement.

Ripple has framed the development as a practical demonstration of how crypto infrastructure can upgrade the legacy payments model rather than replace it. By routing settlements through RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, the process is expected to become faster, more transparent, and more cost-efficient than existing systems that rely on delayed reconciliation cycles and intermediary networks.

The partnership has been described as a joint effort between established leaders in payments, digital assets, and blockchain infrastructure. Mastercard is contributing its global payment network, Gemini is supplying the consumer-facing credit card product, and Ripple is offering the stablecoin and blockchain settlement layer. Analysts have presented this as a rare convergence of traditional finance and crypto-native infrastructure, where both sectors are co-developing the next phase of payment technology.

Mastercard’s leadership commented that the company is actively integrating regulated stablecoin settlement into its core infrastructure, presenting it as a signal that blockchain-based value transfer is moving into mainstream financial operations rather than remaining experimental. The company indicated that the initiative reflects its broader strategy of modernizing settlement rails rather than waiting for future adoption cycles.

Supporters of the initiative believe it marks a shift from conceptual discussions about blockchain in finance to live deployment at institutional scale. The use of a public ledger for settlement, while still operating within a regulated framework, is being viewed as a breakthrough that could influence how banks, networks, and fintech platforms approach cross-rail interoperability.

Ripple and its partners have positioned the project as a foundational step toward what some industry figures have described as an interconnected financial internet — a system where banks, payment networks, and blockchain environments operate across a shared digital settlement layer. They argue that the move shows that stablecoin-based settlement is no longer hypothetical or limited to pilot programs, but is now being embedded into production payment systems used by consumers.

The collaboration is expected to serve as a reference model for additional institutional uses of stablecoins, especially in retail payments and commercial settlements. With Mastercard openly incorporating stablecoin settlement into its payments stack, analysts expect further partnerships across card networks, fintech issuers, and blockchain providers as competitive pressure builds.

The participating companies have not yet disclosed whether additional card products or regions will adopt the same settlement model, but the announcement has been framed as the beginning of a broader rollout rather than a single-use deployment.