Mastercard completes BVNK stablecoin acquisition

Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure provider, in a deal worth up to $1.8 billion. The transaction, announced on March 17, 2026, and closed on August 3, 2026, consists of $1.5 billion in fixed consideration plus up to $300 million in performance-based payments. This marks the largest acquisition in the stablecoin sector to date. BVNK, founded in 2021, had raised a Series B round at a valuation of approximately $750 million in December 2024, meaning Mastercard paid roughly 2.4x that valuation. BVNK operates in over 130 countries, processes billions of dollars in annual stablecoin transaction volume, and counts Worldpay and Fly wire among its clients. The acquisition gives Mastercard control over infrastructure that connects stablecoin transactions to fiat payment flows, enhancing its ability to support cross-border B2B payments, remittances, payouts, settlement, and treasury flows. Mastercard's chief product officer, Jorn Lambert, emphasized the importance of interoperability between fiat, stablecoins, and tokenized assets. BVNK's investors include Concentric objects, Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Visa — Visa Ventures, Citigroup — Citibank, and Coinbase — Coinbase. The deal escalates competition among payment networks, as Visa and PayPal have also made moves in the stablecoin space.