Mastercard and USDC issuer Circle, have forged a strategic partnership to improve digital assets settlements in the Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region. Through this partnership, Mastercard will provide acquirers and merchants in these regions with the ability to process payments in USDC and EURC via the Mastercard network. 

These acquirers will then be in a position to pay merchants directly using the assets which will in turn minimize settlement time and enhance liquidity. Thus, the partnership will benefit both Mastercard and Circle, especially as demand for stablecoins continues to grow. 

Details of the Circle and Mastercard Partnership

Mastercard announced the partnership with Circle via a press release dated August 26, 2025. As confirmed in the official announcement, the global payments giant and USDC issuer will enable USDC and EURC settlement for acquirers in the EEMEA region. This means that acquirers in this region will now be able to make payment in stablecoins, for the first time. 

.@Mastercard and @circle are deepening their longstanding partnership to enable USDC and EURC settlement for acquirers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) regionhttps://t.co/yRBIHH10zX pic.twitter.com/3MguQF70Ed

— ICO Drops (@ICODrops) August 27, 2025

Circle’s and Mastercard’s partnership stems from strong demand for stablecoin settlements across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In a comment regarding the partnership, Dimitrios Dosis – the president for Mastercard in the EEMEA region, confirmed Mastercard’s commitment to scale the adoption of digital assets.

“Our strategic goal is to integrate stablecoins into the financial mainstream by investing in the infrastructure, governance, and partnerships to support this exciting payment evolution from fiat to tokenized and programmable money. Through our expanded partnership with Circle, we are taking bold steps in integrating their innovative use across our global network,” he said, as detailed in the official announcement.

The official announcement further confirmed that Arab Financial Services (AFS) will be the first firm to benefit from this partnership. Eazy Financial Services will also benefit from the launch besides AFS.

Eazy’s founder and CEO, Nayef Al Alawi, noted that the partnership with Mastercard and Circle “sets a new standard for digital settlement in the region” and reflects the company’s mission to deliver faster and more secure payment tools.

This new settlement option builds on earlier projects between Mastercard and Circle in the region. Crypto card programs such as Bybit and S1LKPAY already use USDC for settlement, and now acquirers gain the same ability to move funds with stablecoins.

Partnership to Bolster Circle’s USDC Growth? 

Circle’s USDC has been lagging behind Tether’s USDT in the stablecoin market. However, with the new partnership between Circle and Mastercard, USDC could gain widespread adoption across the EEMEA region. This could help the stablecoin rival USDT’s dominance across the market. 

In fact, USDC has already expressed signs of closing the gap with USDT. According to data by DefiLlama, USDT currently has a market capitalization of $167.23 B. This means that this stablecoin controls 59.76% of the total stablecoin market, dropping by 0.02% over the last 7 days. 

On the other hand, USDC has a market capitalization of $68.71B, which is 24.55% of the total stablecoins market cap. However, USDC’s market cap has surged by 1.86% over the last 7 days. 

While the difference is not huge, this still shows that Circle’s USDC is growing compared to Tether’s USDT. 

Besides USDC, the move will also offer a competitive edge to Mastercard. Particularly, several traditional fintech’s are now incorporating digital asset services in their portfolio and Mastercard’s partnership with Circle places right at the forefront of the growing trend.