Crypto: Mastercard Takes Aim at Stablecoin Payment Security

Mastercard adds a layer of security to payments in stablecoins. Its new tool, Stablecoin Security, will assign a risk score to transactions even before funds are moved on-chain. Fraud, scams, sanctions, and other financial crime risks will be analyzed using payment and blockchain data. Borderless.xyz and Keyrails are the first partners. Global commercial launch is planned for 2027.

Mastercard brings its anti-fraud tools to crypto

Mastercard is not starting from scratch in stablecoins. In March, the group had already bet up to $1.8 billion on BVNK, a company specialized in infrastructures linking traditional currencies and blockchain.

Stablecoin Security now tackles the security of the flows themselves. The tool combines Mastercard’s historical data and detection capabilities with information from blockchains. When a transaction is initiated, the system examines the source of funds, their path, and the payment context.

It specifically looks for indicators related to fraud, scams, international sanctions, and other suspicious financial activities. A risk score is then sent to the financial institution via an API. The uniqueness is in the timing: this information can be available before the funds go on-chain. A bank can therefore integrate the result into its existing fraud and compliance systems and decide how to proceed with the transaction.

Mastercard does not automatically block all flagged payments. Stablecoin Security primarily provides the information that enables the institution to make its decision.

593 million events show the complexity of stablecoins

Monitoring becomes more complicated as crypto payments mix with smart contracts. Mastercard notably cites a study from the Bank for International Settlements dedicated to the activity of USDT, USDC and PYUSD on Ethereum in 2025.

The researchers analyzed 593 million events recorded in 141 million Ethereum transactions. Nearly 60% of stablecoin transfer events appeared within complex transactions. A transfer can thus be just one step among several: swap, loan, arbitrage, liquidity provision or settlement.

Tracking only the address sending USDC and the one receiving them is therefore not always enough to reconstruct what actually happened. Meanwhile, their use in payments is increasing. USDC and USDT already represent 84% of expenditures made with crypto cards, according to data analyzed this summer. Mastercard wants to apply to these new flows some of the tools it has long used in traditional payments.

Borderless and Keyrails open deployment in 2027

Two companies will test the first integrations. Borderless.xyz connects financial institutions to regulated stablecoin providers in over 113 countries and 72 currencies. Keyrails mainly works on high-value cross-border commercial payments, especially in emerging markets.

The launch will begin in North America. Mastercard then plans global commercial availability in 2027. BVNK is also expected to join Stablecoin Security next year. The group is now multiplying gateways between its historical infrastructures and digital assets. It had already opened its network to autonomous payments driven by AI agents, stablecoins included.

Visa is advancing on the same front. Its competitor has just moved Visa Direct stablecoin payments to commercial production. Mastercard adds here another piece: compliance before settlement. Stablecoins promise fast transfers, available 24/7, and directly executable on blockchain. Banks also want to know who they are dealing with before sending the money. Stablecoin Security is designed precisely for this moment.