Coinbase and Marqeta Team Up on Stablecoin Backed Payment Cards

Payments technology company Marqeta is expanding its six-year partnership with Coinbase so businesses can offer cards funded by customers’ stablecoin holdings. Under the plan announced Friday, Coinbase will hold the stablecoins and handle conversions between digital and traditional currencies, while Marqeta takes care of card issuing and payment processing. Coinbase’s Base blockchain will provide the onchain settlement layer.

How Stablecoin Cards Will Work

The service is aimed at Marqeta’s business customers, which include both crypto and traditional companies. Cardholders will be able to spend stablecoins at the millions of merchants that already accept cards, and businesses can fund their card programs around the clock. Alec Lovett, Coinbase’s head of infrastructure products, said the tie-up combines Coinbase’s stablecoin payment rails with Marqeta’s issuing and processing strengths to deliver real time global transactions.

Coinbase and Marqeta Card History

The two companies have worked together before. Marqeta was named as the processor behind Coinbase’s US debit card in October 2020, which let customers spend crypto, including USDC, and earn crypto rewards. The announcement did not share details on fees, a rollout date, or which stablecoins will be supported at launch.