Africa-Press – Botswana. Mastercard and Circle are strengthening their collaboration to enable USDC and EURC settlement for acquirers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region.
As stablecoins continue to address real-world challenges and improve efficiencies across various use cases, Mastercard and Circle are deepening their partnership to offer USDC and EURC settlements in the EEMEA region.
This expanded initiative marks the first time that the acquiring ecosystem in EEMEA will have the opportunity to settle transactions using stablecoins. This further solidifies Mastercard’s role in bridging blockchain-based crypto assets with traditional fiat commerce infrastructure. Arab Financial Services and Eazy Financial Services will be the first to benefit from this new capability.
This development will enable acquiring institutions to receive settlements in USDC or EURC—fully-reserved stablecoins issued by regulated affiliates of Circle. These institutions can then use the stablecoins to settle with merchants, paving the way for efficient and reliable digital trade across emerging markets. This builds upon existing collaborations between Circle and Mastercard in the region, such as crypto card solutions like Bybit and S1LKPAY, which utilize USDC for settling transactions.
Dimitrios Dosis, President of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Mastercard, emphasized the strategic importance of this move. He said, “Our strategic goal is to integrate stablecoins into the financial mainstream by investing in the infrastructure, governance, and partnerships needed to support this exciting payment evolution from fiat to tokenized and programmable money. Through our expanded partnership with Circle, we are making bold strides in integrating their innovative uses into our global network. We understand that trust is key to scaling, and we are proud to lead by applying our decades of expertise in security and compliance to the stablecoin sector.”
Kash Razzaghi, Chief Business Officer at Circle, also highlighted the significance of this partnership: “Expanding USDC settlement across Mastercard’s extensive network of acquirers in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is a crucial step toward enabling truly borderless, real-time commerce. Our expanded partnership with Mastercard will provide broader reach, global access, and scalable impact, enabling USDC to become as common as traditional payments. Together with Mastercard, we are advancing the role of stablecoins as an essential tool for everyday financial activities worldwide.”
Samer Soliman, CEO of Arab Financial Services, discussed the impact of this innovation: “As the first acquirer in the region to offer USDC stablecoin settlement, we are delivering a transformative solution. This development provides our clients with future-ready infrastructure that keeps them competitive in a rapidly changing market. It directly addresses the need for greater liquidity and operational efficiency, significantly reducing friction in high-volume settlements. Our partnerships with Mastercard and Circle are key to this offering, ensuring that our clients can confidently embrace digital asset innovation in a secure and regulatory-compliant framework.”
Nayef Al Alawi, Founder, Managing Director, and CEO of Eazy Financial Services, added, “This collaboration with Mastercard and Circle to enable USDC settlement aligns with our mission to offer faster, more secure, and more efficient payment solutions. This milestone sets a new standard for digital settlement in the region and demonstrates our commitment to driving financial innovation that meets the evolving needs of merchants and consumers.”
Mastercard continues to support the global growth of stablecoins, enabling end-to-end stablecoin payments. This includes ongoing collaboration with Circle to provide merchants with the option to receive payments in stablecoins, regardless of the payment method used by consumers. Along with USDC, Mastercard supports a growing portfolio of regulated stablecoins from global issuers, including Paxos’ USDG, Fiserv’s FIUSD, and PayPal’s PYUSD.
Furthermore, Mastercard is advancing broader efforts to foster regulated, real-world stablecoin use cases, including remittances, B2B transactions, and payouts to gig workers and creators through platforms like Mastercard Move and the Multi-Token Network (MTN). At the core of these efforts is Mastercard’s robust infrastructure, which includes Crypto Credential and Crypto Secure, ensuring that stablecoin transactions meet the highest security and compliance standards.
As stablecoins continue to gain momentum across the EEMEA region, Mastercard’s approach focuses on scalability, regulatory alignment, and practical utility, reinforcing its leadership in payment innovation.
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