Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program includes Ripple alongside 85+ firms like Binance, PayPal, and Coinbase, but the program doesn’t use XRP directly for settlement.
Around 88% of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin supply sits on Ethereum, not the XRP Ledger, meaning most RLUSD activity doesn’t touch XRP at all.
Mastercard’s own research has identified XRP as a “bridge currency” for cross-border payments, but banks won’t use XRP directly until the CLARITY Act classifies it as a digital commodity under federal law.
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XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) broke above $1.50 this week after spending over a month stuck below $1.45, and a wave of new Ripple partnerships is getting credit for the move. The biggest one is Mastercard launching a new Crypto Partner Program on March 11, adding Ripple to a network that processes over $9 trillion in payments every year across more than 200 countries.
Ripple joining a $9 trillion payment network should be bullish for the XRP price, but Ripple has landed major partnerships before without the token moving much. The real question is whether this deal puts XRP to work inside Mastercard’s ecosystem, or whether it’s another win for Ripple’s network that doesn’t reach the token.
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Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program brings together more than 85 crypto firms, payment providers, and financial institutions to build blockchain-based payment products on top of Mastercard’s existing card network. The program launched on March 11, 2026, and gives participants direct access to the infrastructure behind $9 trillion in annual payments across more than 200 countries.
The focus is on use cases where blockchain can already do something useful: cross-border transfers, B2B payments, global payouts, and settlement. Participants work with Mastercard’s teams on product development and get access to forums where they collaborate with banks, merchants, and other partners across Mastercard’s network. Part of the motivation is defensive—stablecoins are increasingly being touted as alternatives to traditional card rails, and Mastercard would rather bring crypto firms inside its ecosystem than watch them build around it.
Read More: Mastercard Just Added Ripple to Its $9 Trillion Payment Network—Could It
