Mastercard and Coinbase are competing to acquire stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK in a deal potentially valued at up to $2.5 billion, as reported by Fortune.
According to six sources cited by Fortune, Coinbase seems to have an advantage over Mastercard, although ongoing negotiations may not lead to a finalized agreement. Recently, London-based BVNK received a strategic investment from Citi, while rival Visa also invested in the stablecoin platform this year.
Stablecoin adoption is surging, with a projected total transaction volume of $27 trillion globally through 1.25 billion transactions in 2024, based on Visa’s analysis. Earlier this year, another stablecoin platform, Bridge, was acquired by payments giant Stripe in a deal worth about $1.1 billion.
As a licensed electronic money institution in the UK and Europe, BVNK offers named IBANs for EUR and GBP and access to various payment schemes, including Sepa, Sepa Instant, and Faster Payments, allowing merchants to efficiently send and receive payments. The company processes over $20 billion annually for global enterprises and payment service providers such as Worldpay, Flywire, and dLocal.