Mastercard says it's acquiring stablecoin startup BVNK in $1.8 billion bet on future of payments

A view of the Mastercard company logo on its stand during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on March 1, 2017.Joan Cros Garcia - Corbis | Corbis News | Getty ImagesMastercard on Tuesday said it agreed to acquire BVNK, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure firm, for up to $1.8 billion. It's the payment network's biggest bet yet on the mainstreaming of digital currencies.The deal includes $300 million in payments that are contingent on BVNK hitting certain performance metrics and is expected to close this year, Mastercard said in a statement.The acquisition gives Mastercard, the world's second-largest payment network after Visa, the ability to connect traditional payment rails with emerging blockchain-based systems. That will allow Mastercard to enmesh itself in payments systems involving stablecoins and tokenized deposits as they gain adoption in coming years."We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services," Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said in his firm's release.BVNK, which was founded in 2021 and told CNBC last year that its valuation was above $750 million, says its platform currently supports transactions on all major blockchain networks in more than 130 countries.Stablecoin startups have been a hot commodity since the reelection of President Donald Trump in late 2024 ushered in a new era of crypto-friendly regulation.BVNK reportedly entertained takeover interest from Coinbase as well as Mastercard, and Mastercard had been interested in acquiring a different crypto company, Zerohash, earlier this year.