SoFi and Mastercard announced a partnership on March 3, 2026 to enable SoFiUSD as a settlement option across Mastercard's global network. SoFiUSD, issued by OCC-regulated SoFi Bank and fully 1:1 cash-reserved, will be used to settle SoFi's credit and debit Mastercard transactions.
Bank-Issued vs. Third-Party Stablecoins
Unlike Visa's approach using third-party stablecoins (Circle's USDC), SoFiUSD is issued by the card-issuing bank itself. This creates a different model: the issuer settles in its own stablecoin rather than converting to a third-party digital dollar. The regulatory profile differs - SoFi Bank is an OCC-regulated national bank, giving SoFiUSD clearer regulatory standing than crypto-native stablecoins.
Galileo Platform Extension
Galileo, SoFi's technology subsidiary that provides card processing infrastructure to banks and fintechs, will offer stablecoin settlement as an option to its issuing bank clients. This could extend bank-issued stablecoin settlement beyond SoFi to Galileo's broader client base.
What This Means
This is the first bank-issued stablecoin integrated into a major card network's settlement layer. It opens a model where every issuing bank could potentially create its own stablecoin for network settlement - a significant departure from both traditional fiat settlement and the third-party stablecoin approach. The competitive dynamics between Visa (third-party stablecoins) and Mastercard (bank-issued stablecoins) will shape how blockchain settlement evolves across card networks.
Sources: Mastercard, Finextra