SoFi Technologies and Mastercard have launched stablecoin settlement across SoFi Bank's entire debit and credit card program, making SoFi the first nationally chartered US bank to process card transactions on a public blockchain using SoFiUSD.
The announcement, made on September 22, 2026, marks a significant step in the convergence of traditional payments infrastructure and digital assets. SoFi Bank, N.A. is migrating its full $25 billion card program to settle transactions in SoFiUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by the bank itself and fully redeemable one-to-one for US dollars. The stablecoin is backed by reserves consisting primarily of cash, according to the companies' joint press release.
How the Settlement Works
From the consumer's perspective, nothing changes. A cardholder swipes a SoFi debit or credit card at any Mastercard merchant worldwide. Behind the scenes, the authorization is tokenized into SoFiUSD and routed across Mastercard's global payments network. The merchant, however, never interacts with stablecoins. Through SoFi's Big Business Banking platform, settlement funds arrive instantly in a SoFi Bank account and can be withdrawn to cash around the clock at zero cost.
"In six months, SoFi and Mastercard took stablecoin settlement from an idea to a live product that materially improves how money moves for businesses," Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, said in the press release.
Sherri Haymond, Global Head of Digital Commercialization at Mastercard, added that the deployment moves stablecoins "beyond exploration to implementation, bringing regulated stablecoin settlement into a live production environment while preserving the trust, scale and safeguards expected from Mastercard."
Why It Matters
The launch addresses what 24/7 Wall St. characterized as the "crypto hurdle" that has historically undermined crypto-based payments at retail: merchants needed to hold volatile digital assets, train staff, adopt new infrastructure, and accept settlement in tokens rather than fiat. SoFiUSD's design sidesteps all four barriers. Merchants receive dollars, not tokens, and the blockchain layer operates entirely behind the settlement process.
SoFiUSD is issued under an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency national charter, making it the first stablecoin from a federally regulated bank to operate in a live card-settlement environment at this scale. The stablecoin is available on both Ethereum and Solana, per the company's announcement.
SoFi is in active discussions with large US merchants, ranging from multinational retailers to technology service platforms, about adopting SoFiUSD-based settlement. The company and Mastercard are also exploring cross-border payments, remittances, and additional money movement use cases. SoFi plans to make the stablecoin settlement option available to other issuing banks through Galileo, its banking-as-a-service platform.
Limitations and What Remains Unconfirmed
The $25 billion figure represents annualized card volume, not a one-time settlement amount. SoFi has not disclosed how much of that volume has already migrated to blockchain-based settlement or the total value settled on-chain since going live. The company also has not named specific merchants that have signed on beyond noting active discussions.
Mastercard's broader stablecoin strategy involves a growing ecosystem of banks, fintechs, and issuers, but no timeline has been given for when other card programs on the network might adopt similar settlement rails.
SOFI shares rose approximately 1 percent on the announcement, trading near $17.14, according to 24/7 Wall St. The stock remains down roughly 34.5 percent year to date.
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