Zero Hash And Marqeta Work to Issue Cards Backed by Stablecoins – Digital Transactions
Zero Hash Holdings LLC said early Wednesday it will work with Marqeta, a card-issuing platform, to allow Marqeta clients to issue cards with stablecoin-based payment capability built in. The arrangement will enable stablecoin users to spend balances in digital dollars at a merchant base amounting to tens of millions around the world, the companies say.
The collaboration will allow Marqeta clients to integrate stablecoin acceptance without reshuffling their core systems, the platform says. Meanwhile, Zero Hash will handle custody, compliance, and liquidity. Marqeta’s clients include financial institutions but also fintechs and retailers such as Block, Uber, DoorDash, Klarna, and Varo Bank, a U.S. financial institution that does business through a smart-phone app.
The collaboration comes as payments players see opportunity in linking stablecoins to debit cards, an arrangement consumers and merchants can see as simpler than direct payments using cryptocurrency. Such cards are growing in popularity among issuers, with payments volume rising rapidly as the result of networks like Visa directly enabling transactions.
The Zero Hash-Marqeta announcement does not specify a card network. Marqeta and Zero Hash did not immediately respond to queries from Digital Transactions News.
Zero Hash’s tie to Oakland, Calif.-based Marqeta is expected to allow users to spend stablecoins at millions of merchants around the world, the parties say, with merchants receiving payment in their local fiat currency. Marqeta will take care of card issuance, acceptance, and ties to banks and networks, according to the parties.
As for Zero Hash, its role “is to abstract the complexity behind the scenes so stablecoins can be leveraged as a seamless part of everyday payments and money movement,” says Edward Woodford, Zero hash’s founder and chief executive, in a statement.
