How to make stablecoins truly scale

Welcome to Inside the Circles, your scoop on the people, tech and trends shaping the digital economy and beyond.

Stablecoins — crypto tokens pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar — have surged to an over $250 billion market cap, and the U.S. Senate last week passed legislation establishing a framework for stablecoins, which could propel more players into the space. But there’s still work that needs to be done to make sure stablecoins live up to their promise as a convenient, secure and dependable way to pay, argues Jorn Lambert , Mastercard’s chief product officer.

That’s why Mastercard said today that it will join Paxos ’ Global Dollar Network, support some of the largest stablecoins across Mastercard’s network, as well as propel adoption and deliver new use cases by applying the scale, innovation, reliability and protections that have made card payments ubiquitous to the world of stablecoins.  

“We’re not just enabling stablecoin transactions — we’re ensuring they’re safe, compliant and built to last,” Lambert writes. To learn more, read his blog here.  

Mastercard also announced today that it is partnering with Fiserv to accelerate mainstream stablecoin adoption, exploring how its network of banks can enable Fiserv’s just-announced new stablecoin, FIUSD, across their solutions. Fortune had the exclusive on the moves.  

Still shaky on the concept of stablecoins? Check out our explainer, where we decode the digital rails and regulatory changes behind these assets.  

The call is coming from inside the scam 

Hi there! Want to make as much $450 a day without leaving your home? Interested??? Click this link!!! 

If you’d received this text, obviously — hopefully — you would have instantly deleted it, as well as similar ones about unpaid tolls, IRS refunds and package deliveries. Phones are now the frontlines for scammers, armed with spoofed numbers, AI-generated voices and hyper-personalized bait. So tech and telecom are partnering to fight back.  

Mastercard is teaming up with Deutsche Telekom , which owns T-Mobile , and GSMA , the mobile network operator trade association, to share insights with each other to fight bad actors from multiple angles. “Fraudsters don't differentiate between data sources, so why should we?” asks Din Uppal, Mastercard’s global vertical lead for tech, media and telecoms. “If we’re going to win the fight against fraud and scams, it has to be a team effort.” Read more here.  

By the numbers 

74% 

Nearly three in four Americans have five or more subscriptions, according to a new survey sponsored by Ethoca , a Mastercard company, and FT Strategies , although the average subscriber cancels frequently due to high costs or increased prices, limited value, underutilization and a bad experience. Read more insights into the evolution of the subscription economy and strategies to reduce churn here.  

The last word 

“Gen Z prefers using new and innovative methods of payment. That’s why it’s imperative to meet them where they are.”  

- Seema Chibber , executive vice president for Core Payments at Mastercard North America, about the launch of Agent Pay, which makes agentic commerce payments safer, smarter and more personalized, to Bank Automation News.  

ICYMI 

Finding power in purpose: Viola Davis reflects on her rise from poverty to stardom — and why true success means helping others rise with you. Read more insights from the Oscar-winning actress from the recent Global Inclusive Growth Summit in Washington, D.C.  

Freight expectations: Freight and logistics play an unseen role in all of our lives – until the supply chain breaks down. A new white paper by Mastercard explores how streamlining payment processes in the complex B2B transportation industry can help logistics companies reduce costs, improve reconciliation and deliver with confidence.  

Moving money, lifting lives: Mastercard will be launching a pilot later this year for alias-based remittances, in which senders simply use email address or phone numbers instead of typing in long bank identification numbers, avoiding potential errors and delaying payments. “When money moves this easily and securely, it creates peace of mind and advances financial security in individual families,” says Mastercard’s Pratik Khowala . “It unlocks opportunities, catalyzes resilience and strengthens economies. It moves millions forward.” Read his blog here.