Mastercard Opens Stablecoin Payout Route Through Thunes

What Happened: Mastercard Opens Stablecoin Payouts as Visa Moves First

Mastercard is expanding its money-movement network to support direct payouts into stablecoin wallets, rolling out the capability just 24 hours later than Visa revealed a similar pilot. The move—announced November 13 at the Singapore FinTech Festival—links Mastercard Move to Thunes’ Direct Global Network, giving banks and payment platforms a new way to send funds straight into approved, regulated stablecoin wallets alongside more traditional endpoints like cards, bank accounts, and cash-out agents.

The setup enables near-instant transfers in dollar-backed tokens and operates around the clock—something legacy payout infrastructure still struggles to provide. Both giants are targeting the identical pain point: sluggish, costly, and time-limited cross-border disbursements affecting gig workers, creators, exporters, and platform economies worldwide.

Investor Takeaway

Why Thunes Matters — and Why Mastercard Chose It

Thunes is the operational hinge. The Singapore-based network already connects mobile wallets, cards, bank accounts, and alternative rails across 130+ countries. It claims reach into more than 7 billion wallets and over 15 billion cards, allowing Mastercard to scale instantly without building dozens of bilateral integrations.

Thunes’ U.S. footprint is critical too. later than securing money-transmission licenses in all 50 states in 2025, the firm became a compliant “last-mile” switch for stablecoin payouts. That clears a major regulatory obstacle for Mastercard, which needs licensed partners to support payouts into self-custody and custodial wallets.

The integration also plugs a hole in Mastercard Move. The firm has been will serve as an additional settlement rail, especially for corridors where traditional banking hours and correspondent networks sluggish things down. This is the first real-world implementation of that strategy.

Is Regulation Finally Clear Enough for large Networks?

One major shift that enabled both networks to move now: in key jurisdictions. Singapore’s Single-Currency Stablecoin framework went live in 2023, defining reserve, redemption, and disclosure rules. In Europe, began applying in mid-2024, while the UK’s consultation on systemic sterling stablecoins signals a tighter regime coming in 2026.

Global networks cannot support stablecoin payouts at scale without clarity on which tokens are permitted, where reserves sit, and what wallet checks are required. These frameworks effectively gave Mastercard and Visa a green light—especially for USD-backed, fully reserved assets.

system, introduced in 2023, is the technical securety net. It confirms whether a wallet can receive a given token on a particular chain, verifies identities, and assists prevent misroutes. This becomes essential once payouts flow to both .

Investor Takeaway

What’s Next: Corridors, Tokens, and the Real Competitive Edge

The back-to-back announcements show that stablecoin payouts have shifted from pilot territory to competitive product rollouts. The race now is not about who announced first but who can scale to live corridors quickest. Mastercard needs to finalize which stablecoins it will support—its previous materials mentioned USDC and PYUSD—and which chains offer the operational guarantees large institutions require.

Banks and fintech processors will push for corridors where stablecoin payout speed creates immediate value: gig platforms with workers in emerging markets, exporters managing weekend settlement gaps, and marketplace payouts tied to time-sensitive disbursements. Stablecoins allow funds to move instantly across time zones and convert to local currency at the wallet exit point, reducing friction for platforms and users.

Thunes also stands to gain. As the connective layer between global networks and regional wallet systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the company becomes a toll operator for any institution looking to reach non-traditional payout endpoints.