Mastercard, on Tuesday, announced its definitive plan to acquire stablecoin infra firm BVNK for $1.8 billion. Confirming the development, BVNK said its team would work with Mastercard to scale stablecoin infrastructure across currencies and payment rails internationally.
Mastercard, in its official statement, pitted stablecoins as a rapidly evolving payment choice for customers considering digital asset adoption. In order to tighten its grasp on this emerging category of assets, the cards giant intends to use BVNK and develop related solutions.
“Bringing the capabilities of BVNK and Mastercard together will deliver trusted interoperability at scale that can seamlessly connect across systems,” The cards company said. “Mastercard is investing to ensure these payment options can be plugged into its network to ensure accessibility, interoperability and trust.”
Founded in 2021, BVNK is headquartered in London. For the last four years, the platform has been working to simplify fiat-to-crypto transactions to make international payments fast and cheap. Essentially, BVNK handles fiat to stablecoin conversions for enterprises while also navigating compliance requirements.
The platform claims that it facilitates stablecoin transfers on all major blockchains and is available in over 130 nations. BVNK said it would be bringing its expertise in stablecoins, technical IP, and regulatory licensing to ,astercard’s fintech and enterprise clients.
“For all of the advancements made in simplifying the digital currency opportunity, we have only scratched the surface of what’s possible,” said Jesse Hemson-Struthers, Co-Founder and CEO, BVNK. “This deal brings together complementary capabilities to define and deliver the future of money.”
In the past, Coinbase was also in discussions with BVNK for a possible $2 billion acquisition, however, the deal collapsed without a noise.
Mastercard, meanwhile, has been establishing a strong footprint in the digital assets space for a while. It plans to complete BVNK’s purchase process before the end of 2026 following a regulatory review.
The cards giant also recently tapped Circle, Ripple, and Binance to collaborate on bridging the gap between crypto assets and traditional banking.