Zero Hash: A Comprehensive Overview of Its Role in Stablecoin Infrastructure and Crypto Payments
Stablecoins have experienced robust growth under a more accommodating regulatory and political environment, with global market capitalization exceeding $300 billion over the past year. This expansion is prompting traditional financial institutions, including payment giants, banks, and fintech companies, to accelerate their deployment of stablecoins. Payment companies, in particular, are working to systematically incorporate stablecoin options into their service offerings. Recent developments such as Mastercard entering late-stage negotiations to acquire Zero Hash—a Chicago-based stablecoin infrastructure startup—have brought Zero Hash and its business model into sharper focus.
What is Zero Hash?
Zero Hash, established in 2017 and headquartered in Chicago, is a business-to-business (B2B) digital asset infrastructure provider. The company supports financial institutions, fintech enterprises, payment processors, and trading platforms, offering them a ready-made, regulatory-compliant technical foundation for delivering cryptocurrency trading, custody, staking, and stablecoin settlement services.
Zero Hash distinguishes itself by offering not only stablecoin payment and custody services but also APIs for tokenization—enabling clients to integrate digital assets and traditional financial instruments into blockchain environments. This allows its partners to provide a broad suite of cryptocurrency services to their own clients without managing the complex backend and regulatory requirements themselves.
How Does Zero Hash Work?
Zero Hash provides modular APIs that allow businesses to integrate a variety of digital asset features into their products securely and in line with regulatory expectations. Its core services include:
Custody: Secure storage for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
Liquidity and Settlement: Access to deep pools of liquidity and efficient on-chain settlements.
On/Off Ramps: Fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat conversion infrastructure.
Compliance Support: AML/KYC checks and full regulatory reporting.
Tokenization: APIs for creating and managing tokenized representations of traditional assets.
Recently, Zero Hash expanded its stablecoin offerings by supporting Ripple’s RLUSD, a USD-backed stablecoin, giving clients further flexibility in their payment and settlement strategies.
Team and Partnerships: Leadership, Ripple Collaboration, and Industry Alliances
Zero Hash was co-founded by Edward Woodford and Brian Liston. The executive team draws on experience across traditional finance, technology, and regulatory compliance sectors.
The company’s partnership approach is broad. Notably, Zero Hash has collaborated with Ripple, integrating RLUSD stablecoin into its supported suite of digital assets—enabling business clients to benefit from increased interoperability and stablecoin choice. The firm has also entered into agreements with organizations such as Morgan Stanley; for example, starting in 2026, Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade platform plans to offer crypto trading services using Zero Hash’s infrastructure.
Zero Hash completed a $104 million funding round in September 2023, led by Interactive Brokers. Investors included Morgan Stanley, SoFi, and Apollo, reflecting growing institutional interest in the infrastructure behind digital asset adoption.
Mastercard, Chainlink, and Zero Hash: Recent Strategic Moves
On October 30, sources indicated that Mastercard was in late-stage negotiations to acquire Zero Hash for a reported $1.5 to $2 billion. If successful, this would represent one of Mastercard’s largest investments in the stablecoin and blockchain infrastructure sector. Mastercard’s involvement in the crypto space is longstanding—earlier, it acquired CipherTrace (a blockchain analytics firm), though it later ceased some of CipherTrace’s main operations. Mastercard has also recognized the long-term potential of stablecoins, participating in the Global Dollar Network alongside Robinhood and Kraken.
In addition to the Zero Hash negotiations, Mastercard recently announced a partnership with Chainlink, utilizing Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to support direct settlement of tokenized assets across multiple blockchains. This reflects a broader strategy among payment giants to bridge the gap between regulated financial infrastructure and blockchain-based settlement.
Stablecoins and Institutional Investment: The “Payment Wars” Move to Blockchain
Amid regulatory clarity and market growth over the past year, stablecoin volume worldwide has soared, exceeding $300 billion in circulation. Increased institutional interest is reshaping digital payments:
Stripe’s $1.1B Bridge acquisition demonstrates surging M&A in stablecoins and payments.
Coinbase’s exclusive $2B deal for BVNK (after a bidding war with Mastercard) highlights the fierce competition.
Zero Hash distinguishes itself by not only enabling stablecoin integration but also helping clients create custom trading platforms and employ tokenization APIs to wrap traditional assets on blockchain.
As Mastercard’s and Stripe’s moves indicate, the “payment wars” of the future are being fought on blockchain rails, and stablecoins may well become the new pillars of global payments. Still, the infrastructure remains under development, and large companies are expected to continue to seek partnerships and acquisitions to stay at the forefront of digital payment innovation.
Conclusion
The digital payment industry is rapidly shifting towards blockchain and stablecoins as core pillars. Zero Hash, with its compliance-driven leadership, innovative partnerships (including Ripple and Morgan Stanley), and now a potential acquisition by Mastercard, stands at the epicenter of this global transformation. As payment leaders and fintechs race to modernize their systems, Zero Hash’s technology is poised to power a new era where digital assets, tokenization, and programmable money underpin all aspects of commerce and value transfer.
