Mastercard is making key moves into the digital asset landscape with the launch of a new global partnership program that includes more than 85 companies in the payments and financial sectors. Names like Circle, Binance, and Ripple are among those joining the initiative, which aims to connect crypto payments to Mastercard’s network.
New Mastercard Crypto Strategy
In a statement Published on Wednesday, Mastercard outlined the main goal of the program: to scale digital assets and seamlessly integrate into existing payment frameworks.
With its position as a bridge between digital assets and traditional payment systems, Mastercard is enhancing its offering to early-stage crypto companies with services such as card applications, global trade acceptance and cross-border payments.
The diverse set of partners in this new program also includes enterprises such as SoFi Technologies, Global Payments’ Worldpay, PayPal, BitGo, Crypto.com, Gemini, Marqeta, Paxos and Shift4, among others.
Mastercard emphasized that the enterprise and institutional use casessuch as payments, settlements and cross-border transactions, are emerging rapidly and are opening ways to improve the movement of money on a global scale.
The initiative follows a partnership announced last November where Ripple, Gemini and WebBank worked with Mastercard to explore Gemini credit card transactions using Ripple’s RLUSD stability. XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Ripple License Push; Binance Battles WSJ
In addition to Mastercard’s expansion, so has Ripple was revealed plans to secure an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) on Wednesday.
This license will allow Ripple to expand its payment offerings in Australia to financial institutions, fintechs and businesses that require efficient ways to transfer value internationally while meeting regulatory standards.
Ripple intends to acquire AFSL through the proposed acquisition of BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd, which is currently undergoing the necessary completion processes.
Once in place, AFSL will enhance Ripple’s capacity to provide the ultimate platform for global money transfers, managing everything from compliance and funding to currency management and liquidity.
On another note, crypto exchange Binance is presented Complaint against The Wall Street Journal for publication of a misleading and defamatory article dated February 23, 2026.
Binance’s global head of litigation, Dugan Bliss, stated that the company considers the lawsuit important to protect itself against false information that has caused reputational and business harm. Bliss added:
This type of reporting undermines trust in the wider industry and undermines the efforts of those committed to protecting users and promoting positive innovation.
At the time of writing, XRP It was trading at $1.38, a significant 3% loss in 24 hours. This was the largest drop among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, only exceeding the 7% decline of Dogecoin (DOGE) over the same period.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
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