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Ripple is teaming up with Mastercard (MA), WebBank and crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) to test with its stablecoin RLUSD to settle fiat credit card transactions on a public blockchain.
The initiative, announced at Ripple’s Swell 2025 event on Wednesday, aims to demonstrate how regulated stablecoins can simplify traditional financial infrastructure without sacrificing compliance or security.
At the center of the project is the XRP Ledger (XRPL), Ripple’s decentralized payment network, and RLUSD – a stablecoin backed by the US dollar introduced by Ripple in December 2024 under a New York Trust Charter. The asset is fully backed by cash and cash equivalents, and Ripple says it has already exceeded $1 billion in circulation.
In the pilot, WebBank, the issuer of the Gemini Credit Card, will explore establishing Mastercard transactions with RLUSD over XRPL. If implemented, this would be one of the first cases of a regulated US bank establishing traditional paper payments using a regulated stablecoin on a public blockchain.
Companies will begin trading RLUSD to XRPL in the coming months, pending regulatory approval. 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 the blockchain to the back-end of a payment flow that consumers already know – swiping a credit card,” said Monica Long, president of Ripple.
In practical terms, the pilot could eventually replace the slower and more expensive establishment rails that banks currently rely on. For example, instead of waiting one to three days for a credit card transaction to clear 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 beforesaid 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.
