Mastercard today announced a definitive agreement to acquire BVNK, a leader in stablecoin infrastructure, for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. The acquisition would expand Mastercard’s end-to-end support of digital assets and value movement across currencies, rails and regions.
Since its founding in 2021, BVNK has built deep expertise and industry-leading infrastructure to bridge fiat and stablecoins. The BVNK platform enables sending and receiving payments for its customers on all major blockchain networks across 130+ countries. The combined activities of Mastercard and BVNK would deliver a digital asset- and chain-agnostic approach, allowing customers to access the solutions best suited to their needs, without being locked into closed ecosystems. This acquisition adds to Mastercard’s commitments, such as the Mastercard Crypto Partner Program, to foster more collaboration and innovation to maximize the opportunity in the next phase of on-chain payments for all involved.
“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,” said Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer, Mastercard. The transaction is anticipated to close before the end of the year, and remains subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
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