Mastercard’s plans to acquire stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for $1.8 billion reinforce Wall Street’s growing view that stablecoins are transforming from niche crypto tools to a core layer for global payments.
Analysts said the deal marks a shift in how traditional financial networks view blockchain-based money flows. Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev said: “Stablecoins are an integral part of the future of payments.” He sees the acquisition as verification that the digital dollar is being embedded in mainstream financial infrastructure.
Mastercard said on Tuesday it would acquire BVNK, a London-based company that helps businesses send, receive, store and exchange stablecoins in more than 130 countries, for $1.8 billion. Analysts estimate that the company will process more than $30 billion in stablecoin payments by 2025.
For investors, the move helps answer lingering questions about Mastercard’s crypto strategy.
TD Cowen analysts, who have a buy rating on the company with a price target of $671, wrote: “BVNK is the clear answer.” He added that the deal connects the on-chain payment rails to Mastercard’s existing network. The company said the acquisition demonstrates that stablecoins can serve as a complementary infrastructure layer rather than a direct competitor to card networks.
This distinction has become central to the investment case. Earlier concerns that stablecoins might bypass traditional payments companies have given way to a different view: that they might improve how money moves behind the scenes.
Cantor Fitzgerald, which has an overweight rating on the stock with a price target of $650, said the acquisition positions Mastercard to ride on the coming “wave of stablecoin adoption,” especially as demand from financial institutions and fintech companies for faster and cheaper cross-border payments grows.
This “wave” of demand has become clear in recent months as many traditional financial giants rush to adopt stablecoins as settlement rails. Even Bitcoin purists like Jack Dorsey, who dream of a world where payments are done via the Bitcoin blockchain, are reluctantly giving in to customer demand for stablecoins.
These use cases are already taking shape.
Stablecoins are increasingly used for business-to-business payments, global payroll and remittances, where traditional systems can take days to settle. In contrast, blockchain-based transfers can move funds within minutes and operate around the clock.
BVNK’s platform adds this functionality directly into Mastercard’s ecosystem, enabling 24/7 settlement and reducing reliance on intermediaries in cross-border transactions.
long term bet
While Mastercard’s financial gains from the acquisition may be small, the credit card giant has its eyes on the greater good.
From a financial perspective, the acquisition is not expected to have a significant near-term impact. BVNK’s revenue will be around $40 million by the end of 2024, which means the contribution to Mastercard’s revenue is likely to be modest.
Instead, the deal will allow Mastercard to make a long-term bet to become a front-runner in a fast-growing industry that promises to revolutionize the way money moves.
Stablecoin trading volume has reached an estimated $350 billion per year and is expected to grow as regulatory clarity improves and more institutions enter the market.
Harvey Li, founder of Tokenization Insight, said that for payment giants like Mastercard, advancing stablecoin infrastructure is to protect core business lines and not just experiment with the cryptocurrency track.
“Card networks are the payment channels most vulnerable to disruption by stablecoins,” he wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, analysts at Oppenheimer, who have an “outperform” rating and a price target of $683, said the deal expands Mastercard’s ability to support end-to-end digital asset flows, including conversions between fiat currencies and stablecoins. It also fits in with the company’s broader push for interoperability between traditional finance and blockchain networks.
“We view Mastercard’s acquisition of BVNK as further affirmation of the stablecoin market for cross-border commerce, rather than B2C payments that are well served by bank cards,” said William Blair analysts led by Andrew Jeffrey, who has an outperform rating on the stock.
Will there be more offers?
Because stablecoins enable faster, cheaper, and always-on transfers, they have the potential to bypass traditional card-based settlement systems. This pressure forces incumbents to adapt quickly—often through acquisitions rather than in-house development.
Mastercard’s BVNK deal follows payments giant Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure and issuer startup Bridge last year. Global Morgan Stanley was one of the major investors in crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash’s $104 million financing last year.
The ultimate goal behind these transactions is to embed stablecoins into existing payment processes, enable large-scale conversion between fiat and digital dollars, and expand card products to 24/7 programmable payment systems.
“It’s about reorienting how money flows in the network,” said Tokenization Insight’s Li.
BVNK is at a critical juncture in this transition. It handles the movement of stablecoins between blockchains, wallets, and traditional accounts, making them crucial for bridging cryptocurrency and fiat systems. In fact, the deal signals that BVNK is a key player in the upcoming stablecoin growth, as both Mastercard and Coinbase were in talks to acquire the company last year at a valuation of up to $2.5 billion. Coinbase withdrew from deal talks last year, and Mastercard made the move at a $1.8 billion valuation.
If the momentum of stablecoins and this deal are anything to go by, this is proof that stablecoins have moved from the fringes to the center of financial infrastructure and could open the door to further transactions in the industry.
Shares of Mastercard and peer Visa were little changed on Tuesday.
Read more: Stablecoin market reaches $312 billion as banks, card networks embrace on-chain USD