Coinbase and Marqeta are deepening their ongoing payments partnership to continue converting stablecoins into standard card transactions for businesses, enabling cardholders to spend their stablecoin balances at millions of merchants worldwide that accept card payments.

The collaboration integrates Coinbase's crypto platform with Marqeta's card issuing and payments platform, and is aimed at both traditional businesses and crypto-native companies. Stablecoins are blockchain tokens designed to hold a steady value, most commonly pegged to the US dollar, a price-stable design that positions them as spending balances rather than trading assets. According to the companies, the infrastructure makes it easy for businesses to finance their card programs around the clock.

The partnership was detailed in an announcement published on Business Wire.

Divided Roles: Custody, Settlement, and Issuing

Coinbase will handle the custody of stablecoins and the conversion between digital assets and fiat currency. Base, the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, will provide the on-chain infrastructure for fast and low-cost settlement. Marqeta will take care of card issuance, payment processing, and building connections with banks and payment networks.

The configuration gives enterprise customers a complete payments stack that does not require additional infrastructure for custody, conversion, blockchain settlement, or card processing. By consolidating these functions in one place, the setup spares businesses from integrating separate providers for each step. It also adds flexibility, allowing companies to fund their card programs around the clock, outside traditional banking hours — a contrast with conventional card-program funding, which has typically depended on bank processing windows.

Stablecoin Balances Become Everyday Spending Power

At the center of the partnership is a mechanism that transforms stablecoins held in digital wallets into spendable card balances. Once a stablecoin-backed card has been issued through Marqeta, consumers will be able to spend against their stablecoin holdings at the numerous merchants around the world that already accept card payments. Because the spending travels over ordinary card rails, merchants do not need to adopt any crypto-specific acceptance tools to receive these payments.

Within that arrangement, Coinbase provides the digital asset layer behind the transactions, while Marqeta connects that infrastructure with existing card networks. The alliance is expected to simplify the integration of stablecoins into consumer and business products, the companies say.

Building on an Existing Relationship

Although the stablecoin card initiative is a new venture, it continues a long association between the two companies, with Marqeta already distributing crypto-backed cards through Coinbase. The expanded partnership places emphasis on Marqeta's global enterprise client base.

For Marqeta, the collaboration adds Coinbase's custody, fiat conversion, and blockchain settlement services to its capabilities. As a result, customers have a single platform on which to build both traditional and digital asset payment products without managing separate integrations.

Base Handles Fast, Low-Cost Settlement

Base will serve as the on-chain settlement layer for the stablecoin-backed card infrastructure. According to Coinbase, adding real-time payment capabilities to the company's stablecoin payment rails, combined with Marqeta's issuing technology, will allow businesses and consumers to make transactions around the world.

Marqeta said the partnership would allow businesses to create cards, fund their programs over time, and provide users with direct access to their stablecoin balances via established payment networks.

Source: Crypto Ninjas