MasterCard BVNK for $1.8B Stablecoin Payments Push
MasterCard has agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK in a deal worth up to $1.8 billion, expanding blockchain-based payments.
The deal includes up to $300 million in contingent payments and aims to strengthen MasterCard's ability to connect fiat payment methods to onchain transactions, the company said Tuesday.
“We expect most financial institutions and fintechs to offer digital currency services with stablecoins or tokenized deposits in time,” said Jørn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard.
Founded in 2021, BVNK provides an infrastructure that enables businesses to send and receive payments on major blockchain networks in over 130 countries. Its platform is designed to connect fiat currencies and stablecoins to enable use cases such as cross-border payments, payments and transactions.
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Coinbase withdraws from BVNK agreement
In the year In November 2025, Coinbase and BVNK announced that they had moved away from a planned $2 billion acquisition that reached the level of due diligence. The reason for canceling the deal was not disclosed.
BVNK has received investment from several major traditional payment organizations. In May 2025, Visa made a strategic investment in the company through its Visa Ventures arm, which came after the stablecoin infrastructure company closed a $50 million Series B funding round led by Hawn Ventures.
In October 2025, Citigroup's venture arm Citi Ventures invested in BVNK. While the amount of the investment was not disclosed, BVNK said its estimate at the time exceeded $750 million.
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Stablecoins could power global payments in 15 years.
Last week, billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins and blockchain technology could reshape global payments in the next decade, citing their speed, efficiency and lower costs compared to traditional systems. He argued that stablecoins could eventually replace existing payment rails, even if he remains skeptical about the role of crypto as a long-term store of value.
His comments come as traditional financial firms scrutinize stablecoin-based systems following regulatory developments including the Genius Act in the US.
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