Billion-dollar deal: Mastercard to acquire stablecoin startup BVNK

Mastercard is increasing its investment in digital currencies. On Tuesday, the company announced the planned acquisition of BVNK, a leading provider of stablecoin infrastructure. The deal is worth up to 1.8 billion US dollars, including 300 million US dollars in contingent payments, Mastercard said in a statement.

With the purchase of the London-based stablecoin startup, the card provider is expanding its commitment to blockchain-based transactions. "With increased regulatory clarity on digital currencies in multiple geographies, financial institutions and fintechs are looking to offer their customers payment choices enabled by stablecoins and tokenized deposits," writes Mastercard. According to Mastercard, stablecoins and tokenized deposits can be used for cross-border transfers, business payments, and payouts. These digital payment systems are typically faster and cheaper than traditional card payments and represent a rapidly growing market. The financial services provider expects the acceptance of stablecoins to increase throughout the financial industry.

Payment processing between fiat and digital currencies

"As different digital currencies and tokenized deposits are issued and their use cases scale, so too does the need for highly secure and compliant payment orchestration between fiat and digital currencies across multiple chains. Bringing the capabilities of BVNK and Mastercard together will deliver trusted interoperability at scale that can seamlessly connect across systems," the Mastercard statement reads.

BVNK was founded in 2021 and specializes in infrastructure for connecting fiat and stablecoins. The BVNK platform allows its customers to send and receive payments in all major blockchain networks in over 130 countries.

"BVNK has spent the last seven years building not just the technology, but also obtaining licenses in multiple geographies," said Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, to Reuters. According to Lambert, building a comparable solution internally would "require quite a bit of time." The acquisition allows Mastercard to enter the market significantly faster. It is expected to be completed before the end of the year but still requires regulatory approval.

(akn)