A view of Mastercard’s corporate logo on its stand during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on March 1, 2017.
Joan Cros Garcia – Corbis | Corbis news | Getty Images
MasterCard announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire BVNK, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure company, for up to $1.8 billion. It is the payments network’s biggest bet yet on digital currency mainstreaming.
The deal includes $300 million in payments contingent on BVNK achieving certain performance metrics and is expected to close later this year, Mastercard said in a statement.
The acquisition gives Mastercard the world’s second-largest payment network visathe ability to connect traditional payment rails with new blockchain-based systems. This will allow Mastercard to integrate into payment systems using stablecoins and tokenized deposits as they become more prominent in the coming years.
“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will offer digital currency services over time,” said Jörn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, in his company’s press release.
BVNK, which was founded in 2021 and told CNBC last year that it was valued at over $750 million, says its platform currently supports transactions on all major blockchain networks in more than 130 countries.
Stablecoin startups have been a hot commodity since President Donald Trump’s re-election in late 2024 ushered in a new era of crypto-friendly regulation.
BVNK was reportedly interested in taking over Coinbase as well as Mastercard, and Mastercard was interested in acquiring another crypto company, Zerohash, earlier this year.
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