Mastercard has finally pulled the trigger on a stablecoin acquisition. The payments giant on Tuesday morning announced a deal to acquire the London-based startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, with $300 million locked up in “contingent payments.” The deal is expected to close by year end, Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, told Fortune. He declined to provide more details about the purchase of BVNK, which uses stablecoins to power customer transactions, cross-border payments, global treasuries, and other use cases.
The acquisition concludes an off-and-on negotiations process that saw the stablecoin firm court multiple buyers, including the U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase and Mastercard. Coinbase came close to buying the startup for around $2 billion before the two called off the deal around November.
Mastercard’s yet-to-be-closed purchase of BVNK eclipses Stripe’s $1.1 billion deal for the startup Bridge in February 2025, making this the largest stablecoin acquisition yet for the crypto industry.
Mastercard’s stock jumped about 2.5% in pre-market trading.
“This is really about getting the right tools to move after new addressable markets,” said Lambert.
