Stablecoin platform M0 and U.S.-licensed issuer Bridge, now part of payments giant Stripe, are joining forces to help businesses roll out custom digital dollars, beginning with popular crypto wallet MetaMask’s proprietary token mUSD.
The two firms said on Thursday the partnership combines Bridge’s regulatory and reserve management expertise with M0’s blockchain infrastructure designed for application-specific stablecoins.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrencies pegged to external assets like the U.S. dollar, have grown into a $250 billion market, often touted as a faster, cheaper option for international payments. Interest in the sector has accelerated since U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting new federal standards for stablecoin issuers.
The idea of application-specific stablecoins has been gaining traction as the market for digital dollars is booming with improving regulatory clarity. Payment applications, crypto wallets or DeFi protocols can create their own branded dollar token while outsourcing compliance, reserves and infrastructure to providers.
For instance, Paxos issues PayPal’s PYUSD token, while BitGo is behind the Trump-affiliated DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial’s USD1. Earlier this month, U.S. fintech Slash launched its own stablecoin with Bridge.
MetaMask’s stablecoin project was already known to be in the works due to a prematurely posted governance proposal earlier this month. Partnering with M0 and Bridge, MetaMask can offer a built-in digital dollar for its users without managing the complex work of issuance, compliance and tech plumbing.
Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, said that they reduced the development time for custom stablecoin issuance from “more than a year of complex integrations” to “a matter of weeks. This means apps like Metamask “can realize benefits more rapidly and efficiently than ever before.”
With the partnership, M0 and Bridge are now seeking to replicate the work on MetaMask’s token for more issuers.
“Applications want to control their dollar infrastructure,” M0 founder and CEO Luca Prosperi said in an interview with CoinDesk. “What is important is that they will not have to build it themselves.”
