Mastercard agrees $1.8bn deal for stablecoin platform BVNK

The acquisition, which includes $300 million in contingent payments, sees Mastercard double down on stablecoins, which have seen their adoption exploding, with $27 trillion in total transaction volume globally across 1.25 billion transactions in 2024, according to Visa analysis.

Mastercard has secured its target after appearing to lose out to Coinbase last year, which inked an exclusivity agreement with BVNK before pulling out of a $2 billion acquisition.

Founded in 2021, BVNK has built infrastructure to bridge fiat and stablecoins. Today, its platform enables sending and receiving payments for its customers on all major blockchain networks across 130+ countries.

Mastercard says that BVNK’s digital asset infrastructure complements and extends its payments network, creating interoperability between fiat and stablecoins as well as helping it back clients looking at new use cases in tokenised deposits and assets.

Jorn Lambert, chief product officer, Mastercard, says: “We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits. We want to support them and their customers with a best in class, highly compliant, interoperable offering that brings the benefits of tokenized money to the real world.

“This acquisition reinforces what we have always done, using innovation and technology to power economies and empower people. Adding on-chain rails to our network will support speed and programmability for virtually every type of transaction.”

The deal, which is anticipated to close before the end of the year, is subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.