Coinbase, Mastercard Eye Billion Dollar Deals for Stablecoin Firm BVNK: Report

Coinbase and Mastercard are reportedly in advanced talks to acquire BVNK, a U.K.-based fintech firm building stablecoin infrastructure.

If completed, the sale could value BVNK between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, according to an initial report from Fortune, citing six sources familiar with the matter. The talks remain ongoing, and neither Coinbase nor Mastercard has reached a final agreement, per Fortune, though Coinbase reportedly has the inside track.

At this scale, the prospects for BVNK outstrips Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin startup Bridge, first reported in October last year, which at the time was the largest in the crypto industry. The deal was completed in February this year.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” a Coinbase spokesperson said, responding to Decrypt’s inquiry on the matter. Mastercard and BVNK have also been approached for comment.

Founded four years ago, BVNK helps businesses integrate stablecoins into payments, cross-border transfers, and treasury operations.

It raised $50 million in December last year at a $750 million valuation in a Series B round. BVNK also received concurrent investments from Visa in May, though the deal’s size was not disclosed at the time.

Still early

Industry observers say the latest wave of massive corporate interest in stablecoins reflects a broader shift in how payment networks and crypto firms look at digital money.

Prospects of acquiring BVNK signal how major firms “view stablecoins as critical payment infrastructure, though motivations diverge sharply,” Ryan Yoon, senior analyst at Tiger Research, told Decrypt.

For Coinbase, it could represent “vertical integration to own both issuance (USDC via Circle) and enterprise distribution, capturing more value chain,” while for Mastercard, it could be “defensive positioning against disintermediation if stablecoin settlement bypasses card networks, plus optionality to white-label crypto services without custody burden,” Yoon said.

Both firms vying for BVNK “acknowledge programmable dollars on public rails could erode interchange economics,” such that these moves could be seen as a rational tactic to secure an early positioning, he explained.

“Capital allocation suggests the infrastructure thesis has crossed a threshold where strategic inaction carries more risk than timing uncertainty,” he added.

Stablecoins “are becoming and will further become commonplace,” Chris Miglino, co-founder and president of crypto venture capital firm DNA Fund, told Decrypt. “[In] the same way that DATs have infiltrated wall Street, stables will replace money transfer.”

One of DNA Fund’s co-founders, Brock Pierce, was also a co-founder at Tether, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by volume, Decrypt was told.

“We saw a landscape in which stables existed along fiat,” Miglino said, drawing from that earlier venture. “Now it’s time for regulation to make these stables mainstream, and it’s happening globally.”

The stablecoin market’s legitimacy gained more ground after stablecoin issuer Circle’s public debut in June, followed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing the GENIUS Act into law in July, which created a federal framework for stablecoin issuers in the U.S.