Nearly a year after fintech giant Stripe signed a $1.1 billion deal to acquire stablecoin startup Bridge, two more major companies are interested in acquiring a stablecoin company of their own. US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and payments giant Mastercard are in advanced takeover talks to buy London-based BVNK, according to six sources familiar with the dealings, who requested anonymity to talk about confidential business discussions.
The terms and winning bidder have not yet been finalized, but the sale price ranges between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, according to some sources. The talks may not lead to a final agreement, but for now it appears that Coinbase has the inside track on Mastercard, Three sources said luck.
If any deal is reached, it would be the largest stablecoin acquisition to date, and another sign that stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies tied to underlying assets like the US dollar, have reached the financial mainstream. If BVNK decides to sell itself to Mastercard, it would be the clearest sign yet that the incumbent payments network — whose shares fell last June news That Amazon and Walmart are pursuing stablecoins is taking the rise of the technology seriously.
BVNK, Mastercard and Coinbase declined to comment.
Stablecoin boom
Founded in 2021 by Chris Harms, Jesse Hemson-Struthers, and Donald Jackson, BVNK helps companies use stablecoins for customer transactions, cross-border payments, global vaults, and a plethora of other use cases. BVNK raised $50 million in December in a round that valued the startup at about $750 million. Haun Ventures led the fundraising, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and existing investor Tiger Global. Other more recent investors include Visa and CityProject arms.
That round still valued BVNK lower than Bridge, which was founded a year later by Coinbase and Square alumni and was officially acquired by payments giant Stripe in February. However, in a previous interview with luck As of last December, Hemson Struthers described BVNK as the “global leader” in stablecoin infrastructure, citing its extensive banking relationships and financial licenses. While Bridge has since gained a more mainstream presence through its work with Stripe on new products such as Open Edition, which allows companies to launch their own stablecoins, the BVNK acquisition will likely eclipse the landmark deal reached last year.
Stablecoins have been a mainstay in the cryptocurrency space for over a decade, but tokens, which are designed to remain stable in price unlike more volatile cryptocurrencies such as… Bitcoin and Ethereumhas become one of the most vibrant sectors in Silicon Valley over the past year. Proponents say stablecoins are faster and cheaper than current payment methods. Instead of waiting for a transfer to clear over days, users can send or receive tokens in seconds and for a small fee. Infrastructure startups like BVNK are facilitating movement between stablecoins and fiat currencies, which is another term for state-backed currencies like the US dollar.
Since January, stablecoin startups have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding, especially as investors watched stablecoin giant Circle go public in a hot IPO in June, and President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act in July, legislation creating a detailed regulatory framework for crypto assets.
The emergence of stablecoins has put existing financial giants such as banks and payment network operators on the defensive. This includes Mastercard, whose stock price fell further in June after the Senate passed the GENIUS Act.
However, Mastercard executives downplayed the threat of stablecoins to their business. “I think most flows will start and end with fiat currency,” said Raj Seshadri, chief merchant payments officer at Mastercard. July call With analysts. “The stablecoin(s) will merely be an additional currency for some specific use cases where they may have an application.”
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