Cardano Foundation has joined Mastercard's Crypto Partner Program, opening discussions with Mastercard and other participants on cross-border payments, business-to-business transactions, stablecoins and settlement. The arrangement does not mean Mastercard is directly using Cardano's network in its payment platform; any institutional recognition would depend on future payment applications. Cardano's stablecoin market holds about $60 million, with at least $43 million in USDCx, or more than 70% of the total. Most activity currently comes from decentralized finance rather than real-world payments. Token Terminal data puts daily active users near 10,000 and monthly active accounts at 323,600, while average transaction fees are about $0.06. Separately, Cardano Foundation said its Leios scaling technology recorded 250 TxkB/s in testing, compared with 4.5 TxkB/s on Cardano's current mainnet. U.Today reported the developments.