Key takeaways
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Coinbase and Mastercard are reportedly in talks to acquire BVNK.
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The stablecoin startup previously received investments from Citi and Visa.
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BVNK’s infrastructure unites fiat and blockchain payment methods.
Stablecoin startup BVNK has become one of the hottest properties in fintech.
Existing investors include Visa and Citi. Meanwhile, reports suggest that Coinbase and Mastercard are making offers to acquire the company directly.
A few years ago, BVNK was a relatively unknown startup, one of many that were building infrastructure to facilitate stablecoin payments.
In 2022, the company’s $40 million Series A round attracted the usual venture capital investors, but there were no signs of interest from major players in cryptocurrency or payments.
When BVNK’s Series B surfaced two years later, the startup had annualized volume of $10 billion. Among the participants was Coinbase Ventures, which has invested in stablecoin infrastructure, investing in companies such as Bastion, Stablecore and ZAR.
BVNK has since received strategic investments from Visa and, more recently, Citi.
Those deals reflect broader moves by powerful financial institutions. With the rise of stablecoin adoption, traditional banks and payment processors face a threat to their control of global monetary flows. At the risk of being left behind, they are struggling to secure a position in the rapidly evolving stablecoin sector.
Furthermore, in a still young market that continues to change, independent rails of BVNK tokens could help investors hedge their bets against different potential outcomes.
Just as news of Citi’s investment broke, Fortune reported that Coinbase and Mastercard were in “advanced acquisition talks” with BVNK. Any deal could value the company between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, the sources said.
Acquiring the stablecoin platform would create different strategic advantages for each company.
For example, Coinbase could influence which stablecoins BVNK customers use.
The crypto exchange has an equity stake in Circle and receives income from its Treasury reserves through a revenue sharing agreement, providing a strong incentive to push BVNK users towards USDC.
Meanwhile, Mastercard is racing to integrate stablecoins into its global payments network, where BVNK’s ability to coordinate on- and off-chain transactions could give the card giant a crucial advantage over Visa.
BVNK’s infrastructure, which facilitates payment flows spanning stablecoin transfers and fiat e-money transactions, is in line with the view of Mastercard senior executives.