The global financial landscape is witnessing a pivotal convergence between traditional payment rails and decentralized finance as Marqeta, a leading global card issuing platform, and Zero Hash, a premier digital asset infrastructure provider, announced a strategic partnership to integrate stablecoin spending into mainstream commerce. This collaboration allows Marqeta’s diverse portfolio of clients to embed stablecoin payment capabilities directly into new and existing financial products, effectively bridging the gap between digital assets and everyday consumer transactions. By leveraging Zero Hash’s specialized infrastructure, organizations can now offer stablecoin-backed card programs without the necessity of overhauling their core technical systems or assuming the significant regulatory and compliance burdens typically associated with digital asset management.
Under the terms of the agreement, Marqeta will oversee the critical elements of card issuance, merchant acceptance, and the management of complex relationships with banking institutions and global payment networks. Simultaneously, Zero Hash will provide the foundational "behind-the-scenes" technology, including secure custody, regulatory compliance frameworks, and the liquidity required for on-chain money movement. This synergy ensures that while a consumer may be spending digital dollars—stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies—the merchant at the point of sale receives payment in local fiat currency, such as U.S. Dollars or Euros. This "pay-with-crypto, receive-with-fiat" model is essential for the mass adoption of digital assets, as it utilizes the existing infrastructure of tens of millions of merchants worldwide.
The Evolution of Stablecoins as a Primary Medium of Exchange
The partnership arrives at a time when the utility of stablecoins is shifting from speculative trading collateral to a legitimate tool for global value transfer. Historically, stablecoins like USDC and USDT were primarily used by crypto traders to hedge against volatility. However, recent data suggests a profound shift toward transactional utility. In February 2025, stablecoin monthly transaction volumes reached a staggering $7.2 trillion, surpassing the transaction volume of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network, which recorded $6.8 trillion in the same period. This milestone marked the first time that stablecoins outpaced one of the most established legacy payment systems in the United States, signaling a clear appetite for the speed and 24/7 availability of blockchain-based settlement.
The growth trajectory of Zero Hash further underscores this trend. The company reported a 6.9x year-over-year increase in transaction volume throughout 2025, with the frequency of transactions more than doubling. By providing a turnkey API and an embeddable developer kit, Zero Hash has enabled a wide range of fintechs and traditional brokerages to enter the digital asset space. This new alliance with Marqeta expands that reach even further, allowing non-crypto-native companies—such as retail brands, travel platforms, and gig economy providers—to offer stablecoin-based rewards, disbursements, and payment options to a global audience.
Strategic Objectives and Executive Insights
The leadership of both firms emphasized that the primary goal of the integration is to abstract the inherent complexities of blockchain technology for the end user. Anthony Peculic, Marqeta’s Interim Chief Product Officer, noted that the modern financial product landscape requires more agile ways to manage and move capital. He highlighted that the integration with Zero Hash provides a "full-stack" solution, enabling multinational card programs that are both compliant and capable of scaling across different regulatory jurisdictions.
From the perspective of Zero Hash, the partnership represents a "critical unlock" for on-chain assets. Edward Woodford, CEO and Founder of Zero Hash, stated that the compatibility between stablecoins and traditional networks is the final hurdle in making digital dollars a seamless part of everyday payments. By handling the liquidity and custody aspects, Zero Hash allows Marqeta’s clients to focus on user experience and product differentiation rather than the technical minutiae of blockchain settlement or the legal complexities of state-by-state and country-by-country licensing.
Technical Synergy: Just-in-Time Funding and Digital Custody
A key component of this partnership is the integration of Marqeta’s proprietary Just-in-Time (JIT) funding technology. JIT funding allows a card issuer to fund a transaction in real-time at the point of sale. When a user swipes a stablecoin-backed card, Marqeta’s platform can communicate with Zero Hash’s infrastructure to instantly verify the user’s digital asset balance, liquidate the necessary amount of stablecoins, and authorize the transaction in fiat currency within milliseconds.
This process eliminates the need for users to manually "top up" a card by selling their crypto hours or days in advance. Instead, the asset remains in a digital wallet until the exact moment of purchase, maximizing the utility and liquidity of the user’s holdings. Zero Hash’s role as the custodian is equally vital; the firm operates regulated entities in 51 U.S. jurisdictions and holds licenses across the European Union, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Bermuda. This extensive regulatory footprint provides the legal "moat" that allows Marqeta to offer these services to highly regulated enterprise clients.
Chronology of Innovation: Marqeta and Zero Hash’s Market Position
Marqeta has been a consistent disruptor in the fintech space since its debut at the FinDEVr Silicon Valley conference in 2016. Headquartered in Oakland, California, the firm has evolved from a startup focusing on prepaid cards into a global powerhouse that processed nearly $400 billion in annual payment volume in 2025. Its platform is now active in more than 40 countries, serving giants in the on-demand delivery, travel, and e-commerce sectors.
Zero Hash, founded in 2017 and based in Chicago, has followed a similar path of aggressive infrastructure building. By focusing on the "plumbing" of the crypto industry—API-driven custody and settlement—it has become the go-to partner for firms like MoonPay, DraftKings, and various neobanks. The company currently supports over 100 different digital assets and serves more than seven million end customers. The partnership with Marqeta represents a logical next step in its mission to "tokenize" the movement of value.
Broader Ecosystem Impact: The Expensify Expansion
The announcement of the Zero Hash partnership coincided with another major milestone for Marqeta: the expansion of its collaboration with Expensify. A fellow Finovate alum, Expensify is a dominant player in the spend management and corporate card space. Leveraging Marqeta’s issuing platform, Expensify is now bringing its corporate card solutions to the United Kingdom and the broader European market.
Daniel Vidal, Chief Strategy Officer at Expensify, noted that businesses across Europe are increasingly demanding automated expense management tools that reduce administrative overhead. This geographic expansion highlights Marqeta’s ability to act as a launchpad for fintechs looking to scale internationally. The simultaneous push into stablecoins and European corporate spending suggests that Marqeta is positioning itself as the central nervous system for both the future of digital money and the globalization of corporate finance.
Implications for the Future of Global Payments
The integration of stablecoins into global card networks carries significant implications for cross-border commerce. Traditional international payments are often plagued by high fees, slow settlement times (T+2 or T+3), and opaque intermediary bank chains. Stablecoins, by contrast, offer near-instant settlement on-chain. When combined with the ubiquity of card networks, they provide a hybrid solution that offers the speed of blockchain with the reliability of the Visa and Mastercard ecosystems.
For multinational corporations, this means the ability to issue cards to employees or contractors in different countries that are backed by a single, stable digital asset (like a USD-pegged stablecoin), bypassing the complexities of local currency volatility and high-cost FX conversions. For consumers in regions with high inflation or limited access to stable fiat currencies, stablecoin-backed cards provide a gateway to the global economy, allowing them to hold value in "digital dollars" while retaining the ability to spend at local merchants.
Conclusion and Regulatory Outlook
As Marqeta and Zero Hash move forward with this rollout, the industry will be watching the regulatory response closely. The partnership is built on a foundation of strict compliance, with Zero Hash managing the heavy lifting of KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) protocols. However, as stablecoins become a larger part of the $7-trillion-plus payment ecosystem, central banks and financial regulators are likely to introduce more stringent frameworks, such as the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in Europe and potential stablecoin legislation in the U.S. Congress.
By proactive alignment and the integration of robust infrastructure, Marqeta and Zero Hash are not just reacting to the market; they are actively shaping the infrastructure of the next decade. The transition of stablecoins from a niche digital asset to a backbone of global card payments marks a definitive chapter in the history of fintech, promising a future where the distinction between "crypto" and "money" becomes increasingly irrelevant to the end consumer. Through this partnership, the two companies have established a scalable, compliant, and highly efficient blueprint for the future of the movement of value.
