Mastercard Q3 Revenue Up 17%; Zerohash Talks

Mastercard reported Q3 2025 net revenue of $8.6 billion, up 17% year‑over‑year, with adjusted EPS of $4.38 beating estimates and net income of $3.9 billion. Gross dollar volume rose to about $2.7 trillion, cross‑border volumes were up 15% (local currency) and switched transactions increased 10%, while value‑added services revenue grew roughly 25%. Management attributed the results to healthy consumer and business spending and strong demand for value‑added services such as digital authentication, cybersecurity and customer engagement. Offsets included rising payment‑network rebates from renewed deals, higher operating expenses tied to acquisitions and G&A, and a higher effective tax rate after global minimum tax rules took effect. Mastercard launched “Mastercard Threat Intelligence,” combining its global fraud data with Recorded Future’s cyber insights to help banks detect and respond to payment‑related cyber threats. The company returned about $3.3 billion in share repurchases and $687 million in dividends and is reportedly in late‑stage talks to acquire Zerohash for $1.5–$2 billion to gain regulated rails for stablecoin, tokenization, custody and on‑chain settlement.