SoFi Technologies and Mastercard announced on September 22, 2026, that stablecoin settlement is now live across SoFi Bank’s debit and credit card program. The bank is settling transactions in SoFiUSD, its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, directly on Mastercard’s global payments network. SoFi says the shift covers its entire card program, which is expected to process more than $25 billion in annualized volume. That makes SoFi the first nationally chartered, OCC-regulated bank to move card settlement onto public blockchain rails. The rollout follows an enhanced partnership the two companies announced in March 2026, and it marks a meaningful jump from pilot to production. Unlike earlier stablecoin payment experiments, this one runs through an insured depository institution rather than a standalone crypto issuer.
What SoFiUSD Actually Is
SoFiUSD launched in December 2025 as the first stablecoin issued directly by a consumer banking app in the United States. SoFi Bank, N.A. issues the token and backs it 1:1 with cash reserves, similar to how a traditional deposit account works. Because SoFi Bank is federally insured and OCC-regulated, SoFiUSD carries a different structural profile than stablecoins issued by non-bank crypto companies. Users gained access to the token through the SoFi banking app in May 2026. Mastercard has said SoFiUSD’s cash backing and redemption design gives merchants and card issuers reliable liquidity. However, holding a stablecoin still differs legally from holding a bank deposit, and readers should treat the two as distinct products even when reserves sit 1:1.
Solana Carries the Majority of SoFiUSD
Solana is where most of SoFiUSD actually lives. As of late August 2026, roughly $232.6 million of SoFiUSD supply sat on Solana, or about 70% of the total. Ethereum held the remaining 30%, or roughly $100 million. That split matters because Solana settles transactions in under one second and charges fees below a penny per transaction. Those numbers explain why SoFi leaned on Solana for the bulk of its stablecoin supply rather than splitting it evenly across chains. Solana’s broader stablecoin base has grown quickly too, rising from roughly $5 billion to $14 billion over the past year. Consequently, SoFi’s choice fits a pattern other major payment networks have already set in motion.
Solana’s Momentum Across the Payments Industry
SoFi is not the first payments giant to lean on Solana for settlement. Visa launched USDC settlement on Solana in December 2025, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank among its first U.S. partners. By mid-2026, Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume on Solana reached a $7 billion annualized run rate. Western Union has also committed to Solana, building its planned U.S. Dollar Payment Token on the network to serve its global remittance customers. Meanwhile, Solana’s network processed 25.3 billion transactions in the first quarter of 2026 alone, dwarfing Ethereum’s roughly 200 million over the same period. Taken together, these moves show traditional finance converging on Solana specifically for high-volume, low-cost settlement rather than treating it as one option among many.
Why Banks Are Moving Settlement Onchain
Traditional card settlement runs on schedules tied to banking hours and clearing cycles. Stablecoin settlement removes that constraint and enables continuous, 24/7 processing regardless of weekends or holidays. Near-instant finality also reduces the float and counterparty risk that issuers and acquirers currently absorb while waiting for funds to clear. Mastercard’s Sherri Haymond, the company’s global head of digital commercialization, said the initiative moves stablecoins from exploration into live production while preserving the trust and safeguards Mastercard’s network requires. SoFi CEO Anthony Noto emphasized that merchants do not need to hold SoFiUSD or change their existing systems to benefit from the upgrade. Additionally, SoFi and Mastercard have said they plan to explore cross-border remittances and business-to-business payments next, areas where correspondent banking delays are most costly.
Mastercard’s Broader Multi-Chain, Multi-Stablecoin Strategy
SoFiUSD is one piece of a much larger framework Mastercard is building. The company’s stablecoin settlement plans span Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo, and XRPL. Beyond SoFiUSD, Mastercard has named Circle’s USDC, Paxos’s PYUSD, USDG, USDP, and Ripple’s RLUSD as supported or planned settlement assets. Early participants expected to join the U.S. and Latin American rollout include ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei. Galileo, SoFi’s payments technology subsidiary, is expected to extend SoFiUSD settlement to its own card clients and partner issuing banks. This positions SoFi’s launch as an early proof point within a settlement network that Mastercard intends to scale well beyond a single bank or blockchain.
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