Mastercard Would Buy Stablecoin Infrastructure Firm BVNK for $1.8 Billion After Coinbase Walked Away
Mastercard, the world’s second-largest payment network after Visa, announced Tuesday it will acquire BVNK, a London-based firm that connects traditional banking rails with stablecoin payment systems, in a deal valued at up to $1.8 billion.
The $300 million contingent portion is tied to BVNK hitting performance milestones after closing. No payment structure was disclosed.
The deal is Mastercard’s largest bet yet on the mainstreaming of digital currencies and is expected to close before year-end subject to regulatory approval. BVNK, founded in 2021, has built infrastructure letting businesses send and receive payments on all major blockchain networks across more than 130 countries.
Its clients include Worldpay, Deel, and Flywire, covering use cases from cross-border transfers and remittances to business-to-business payments and treasury management.
The company raised a $50 million Series B led by Haun Ventures, received a strategic investment from Visa Ventures in May 2025, and secured Citi Ventures backing in October 2025, at which point its valuation had surpassed $750 million, more than doubling in under two years to reach the acquisition price.
Coinbase Got There First. Then It Left.
The deal comes four months after Coinbase walked away from its own advanced acquisition talks with BVNK. Reports from late 2025 indicated that Coinbase had reached exclusivity on a deal worth roughly $2 billion, above what Mastercard ultimately agreed to pay, before the crypto exchange ended negotiations without public explanation.
Axios reported Tuesday that one possible reason is that Coinbase was more focused on the revenue implications of the deal than Mastercard, which primarily wanted the technology. Mastercard also briefly evaluated BVNK’s rival Zerohash before settling on the BVNK transaction.
For Mastercard, the strategic logic is the technology. Stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies and used to move value across blockchain networks, are increasingly deployed for cross-border payments, corporate treasury, and payroll, particularly in markets with limited US dollar banking access.
The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, gave US stablecoin issuers a federal regulatory framework for the first time. Global stablecoin supply has since grown to $314.7 billion, up 53% from $205 billion in January 2025.
Mastercard’s Broader Digital Asset Push
The BVNK deal sits inside a broader acquisition wave. Mastercard launched its Crypto Partner Program last week, bringing together more than 85 companies including Circle, Ripple, and Fireblocks. Rival Visa invested in BVNK itself last May. Both networks are competing to lock in stablecoin infrastructure positions before the rails commoditise.
The deal echoes Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge Network in 2025 and Ripple’s $200 million acquisition of Rail. Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, said most financial institutions and fintechs would eventually offer digital currency services, and that bringing BVNK in-house would help translate tokenised money into real-world utility.
