Mastercard says stablecoins could make payments faster and more efficient, but realizing their full potential requires further development of supporting infrastructure. Matthew Driver, executive vice president of services for Asia Pacific at Mastercard, said stablecoins could suit certain remittance corridors and less commonly traded currency pairs. He warned against a “stablecoin sandwich,” with a slow on-ramp, a fast transaction in the middle and a slow off-ramp, which would not necessarily speed up payments. Connecting real-time payment systems to stablecoin exchanges at both ends could help, but market participants also need to be able to use the technology effectively. In Singapore, where retail payments are already highly efficient, stablecoins may have fewer consumer applications than corporate payments, where smart contracts are one potential use case.
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