Ripple is partnering with Mastercard (MA), WebBank, and crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) to test using its RLUSD stablecoin to settle fiat credit card transactions over a public blockchain.
The initiative, announced at Ripple’s Swell 2025 event on Wednesday, aims to show how regulated stablecoins can optimize traditional financial infrastructure without sacrificing compliance or security.
At the center of the project is the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a decentralized payments network, and RLUSD, a US dollar-backed stablecoin introduced by Ripple in December 2024 under a New York Trust Statute. The asset is fully backed by cash and cash equivalents, and Ripple says it has already surpassed $1 billion in circulation.
In the pilot, WebBank, the issuer of the Gemini credit card, will explore settling Mastercard transactions using RLUSD on the XRPL. If implemented, this would be one of the first cases of a regulated US bank settling traditional card payments using a regulated stablecoin on a public blockchain.
Companies will begin adding RLUSD to XRPL in the coming months, pending regulatory approvals. If successful, the effort could become a model for other card programs exploring blockchain-based settlement.
“The goal is to bring the speed and efficiency of blockchain to the back-end of a payment flow that consumers are already familiar with: swiping a credit card,” said Monica Long, president of Ripple.
In practical terms, the pilot could eventually replace the slower and more expensive settlement systems that banks rely on today. For example, instead of waiting one to three days for a credit card transaction to settle between a merchant’s bank and the card issuer, a stablecoin like RLUSD could move funds almost instantly, especially across borders.
Mastercard, which has explored stablecoin payments before, said the project is part of its broader effort to integrate regulated digital assets into its global network. Gemini and Ripple previously collaborated on an “XRP edition” of the Gemini credit card earlier this year.
CORRECTION (November 5, 17:34 UTC): Fixes the relationship between Ripple and XRP.
