Mastercard has agreed to buy stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in a transaction valued at up to $1.8 billion, including as much as $300 million in contingent consideration, the payments firm said Tuesday. The acquisition is aimed at bolstering Mastercard’s capability to link fiat payment rails with on‑chain transactions.
“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits,” Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, said.
Founded in 2021, BVNK offers infrastructure that enables businesses to send and receive payments across major blockchain networks in more than 130 countries. Its platform is designed to bridge fiat currencies and stablecoins to support cross‑border payments, payouts and commercial transactions.
In November 2025, Coinbase and BVNK mutually walked away from a proposed $2 billion acquisition that had reached due diligence; the parties gave no reason for canceling that deal.
BVNK has drawn backing from several established payments and banking investors. In May 2025, Visa made a strategic investment through Visa Ventures following BVNK’s $50 million Series B round led by Haun Ventures. In October 2025, Citi Ventures also invested in the company; BVNK said at the time its valuation had topped $750 million, though Citi did not disclose the investment size.
Investor and macro commentator Stanley Druckenmiller recently suggested that stablecoins and blockchain technology could transform global payments within the next decade because of their speed, efficiency and lower costs versus traditional systems, even as he remains skeptical about cryptocurrencies as stores of value. Such views come amid growing interest from traditional financial firms and regulatory developments in the U.S., including the GENIUS Act, which have encouraged exploration of stablecoin‑based payment systems.
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