PURCHASE, N.Y.—Mastercard said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments, in a move the company said will expand its “end-to-end support of digital assets” and strengthen its ability to connect blockchain-based payments with traditional fiat rails.
In announcing the deal, Mastercard said digital assets powered by blockchain technology have the potential to make money movement “faster and smarter,” and noted that while digital currency payments remain early-stage, use cases are scaling quickly, reaching at least $350 billion in volume in 2025.
Mastercard said the acquisition is designed to help financial institutions and fintechs offer payment options enabled by stablecoins and tokenized deposits, especially as regulatory clarity improves in multiple markets. The company said use cases include cross-border remittances, payouts, person-to-person transfers and B2B payments, with longer-term potential in treasury management and capital markets.
“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits,” Jorn Lambert, chief product officer at Mastercard, said in a statement. “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.”
Founded in 2021, BVNK has built infrastructure that bridges fiat and stablecoins and supports sending and receiving payments across major blockchain networks in more than 130 countries, Mastercard said. The company added that combining the two firms is intended to create a digital asset- and chain-agnostic platform that allows customers to use multiple blockchain-based payment options without being locked into a closed ecosystem.