Original author: KarenZ, Foresight News

Mergers and acquisitions in the stablecoin sector are intensifying. Following Stripe's $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge, a bidding war has erupted between Coinbase and payment giant Mastercard, with their target being BVNK, a rising star in the stablecoin payment infrastructure field.

In early October, Fortune magazine, citing sources, first reported that Coinbase and payment giant Mastercard had both begun negotiations to acquire BVNK, with the deal estimated at between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion. At the time, various indications suggested that Coinbase was gaining the upper hand in the bidding war. Coinbase Ventures, Coinbase's venture capital arm, was already an existing investor in BVNK, and this "investment-to-acquisition" partnership seemed to pave a smooth path for the acquisition.

In November, a recent Bloomberg report further confirmed the deal's progress: Coinbase plans to finalize its acquisition of BVNK for approximately $2 billion. The two parties are now in the late stages of negotiations, and due diligence is underway. If all goes smoothly, the deal is expected to be finalized by the end of 2025 or early 2026, at which point it will become the largest merger and acquisition deal in the stablecoin sector.

It's worth noting that just as the BVNK acquisition negotiations were reaching a fever pitch, Mastercard quietly shifted its strategic focus to another target. According to Fortune magazine in late October, citing five sources familiar with the matter, Mastercard was in late-stage talks with Chicago-based cryptocurrency infrastructure startup Zerohash, planning to acquire the company for $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

Who is BVNK?

BVNK Team Background

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in London, BVNK was established by founders with experience in the fintech, banking, and digital asset sectors.

• BVNK CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers: A serial entrepreneur whose previous ventures in e-commerce and gaming were successfully acquired by media giants Naspers and Sportradar, respectively.

• Donald Jackson, co-founder and CTO of BVNK: He previously founded Cue (a self-funded customer engagement platform) and Verity (an anti-fraud service company).

• Amit Cheela, CEO of BVNK US: Former CFO of BlockFi.

• Chief Compliance Officer Phil Doyle: Previously led anti-fraud and compliance efforts at companies including Revolut, Visa, ClearBank, and Zepz.

According to BVNK's official website, its team has expanded to more than 300 people, with an annualized payment transaction volume of over $20 billion and a total financing amount of $90 million.

Financing progress and valuation trajectory

In terms of financing, BVNK completed a $40 million Series A funding round in May 2022, valuing the company at $340 million post-money. Tiger Global Management led the round, with other investors including The Raba Partnership, Avenir, Kingsway Capital, Nordstar, Concentric, and Base Capital. Notably, despite suffering a staggering $17 billion loss in the first four months of that year, Tiger Global remained steadfastly optimistic about BVNK, demonstrating its strong confidence in the company's future prospects.

In December 2024, BVNK completed a $50 million Series B funding round, led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, and existing investors Avenir and Tiger Global. According to Fortune magazine, citing sources familiar with the matter, this round valued BVNK at approximately $750 million.

Entering 2025, BVNK has once again gained favor from global payment giant Visa and multinational bank Citi. In May, it received strategic investment from Visa Ventures, a subsidiary of Visa, and in December, it received strategic investment from Citi Ventures.

From a valuation of $340 million in May 2022 to $750 million in December 2024, and now to a negotiated acquisition price of around $2 billion, BVNK's rapid appreciation reflects the investment enthusiasm in the stablecoin infrastructure sector and the market's recognition of BVNK.

Core service system

BVNK provides a multi-tiered stablecoin payment infrastructure, helping businesses operate seamlessly between the traditional financial and blockchain worlds. Its services are offered in two main models:

• Fully Managed Model: Businesses can leverage BVNK's licensing and custody services to enable digital currency payments, with BVNK responsible for regulatory compliance and fund safekeeping, reducing the cost of business integration.

• Self-management model: BVNK offers an Infrastructure-as-a-Service product, "Layer 1," designed for enterprises seeking scale and control. Enterprises can run stablecoin payments internally, autonomously connecting with licensees, custodians, and liquidity partners.

Users can choose between a fully custodial or self-managed model. The platform supports fast cross-border transfers and settlements via stablecoins, as well as traditional fiat currency payment channels.

In terms of product form, BVNK offers functional modules such as virtual account naming, payment receiving, payment sending, real-time transfers, and embedded wallets. Enterprises can integrate these functions with just a few lines of code, providing users with the ability to receive, hold, and exchange stablecoins and fiat currencies within their own applications.

BVNK also prioritizes expansion in the United States. In August, BVNK announced a partnership with Paxos to offer stablecoin payment services in all 50 states. At the time, BVNK also stated that its transaction volume had quadrupled in the past 60 days alone, and that its annualized transaction volume in the US alone was expected to exceed $10 billion by the end of the year.

Why is BVNK worth $2 billion?

Strong business growth

As a stablecoin payment infrastructure provider, BVNK achieved strong business growth in 2025, with an annualized transaction volume exceeding $20 billion. Its main clients include global payment processing company Worldpay, payment support and software company Flywire, and cross-border payment platform dLocal.

From an annualized processing volume of $2 billion in May 2022 to $20 billion today, this tenfold growth rate is extremely rare in the fintech sector, fully demonstrating the explosive growth in demand for stablecoin payments on the enterprise side.

Profit Model

BVNK's profits mainly come from service fees charged to merchants. Its pricing model is based on different tiers of payment transaction volume and adopts a fair and transparent marginal pricing strategy.

As the global stablecoin payment volume continues to grow, BVNK's revenue will also expand accordingly, potentially forming a stable cash flow and profit growth curve.

The core logic behind high valuations

The reason why BVNK was able to achieve a surge in valuation in a short period of time is that it has built a triple barrier of "technology + compliance + ecosystem".

On the technical level, its Layer 1 infrastructure supports multiple chains and payment tracks, enabling seamless integration between stablecoins and fiat currencies to meet diverse needs such as cross-border payments, global payroll, and market transaction settlement for enterprises. On the compliance level, its custody model will significantly reduce the compliance costs for enterprises accessing stablecoin services. On the ecosystem level, BVNK has established partnerships with industry partners such as Worldpay, dLocal, Deel, and Xapo Bank, with application scenarios covering multiple fields such as fintech, e-commerce platforms, global payroll, gaming, and digital asset trading.

Furthermore, the explosive growth of the stablecoin industry is a significant external factor contributing to BVNK's valuation increase. With the signing and implementation of the GENIUS Act, the United States has established a dedicated regulatory framework for stablecoins, leading to more standardized industry development. Coupled with the demonstration effect of Circle's listing, the institutionalization process of stablecoins has accelerated, and market demand for high-quality infrastructure service providers remains strong, providing robust support for BVNK's valuation.

Coinbase's strategic intentions

Coinbase has long relied excessively on transaction fees, a model that is highly cyclical. If the market enters a bear market, transaction fee revenue plummets.

The acquisition of BVNK represents a strategic awakening for Coinbase—a shift from a passive participant enduring market cyclical fluctuations to a proactive platform operator building infrastructure. Revenue from stablecoin infrastructure is inherently counter-cyclical. Even during crypto market downturns, the needs of businesses for cross-border payments, payroll processing, and treasury management persist. This predictable revenue model, based on trading volume rather than price fluctuations, will significantly improve Coinbase's financial stability.

We can see that nearly 19% of Coinbase's revenue in the third quarter came from stablecoins. At the same time, Coinbase is also continuously expanding its payment scenarios, for example, by launching a payment API and a B2B payment UI/API, supporting businesses to use USDC to embed stablecoin payments and 24-hour payment functions through the Base Chain.

It's conceivable that after acquiring BVNK, Coinbase will possess a more robust payment infrastructure. Through BVNK's payment network, USDC can flow more quickly to businesses and consumers worldwide, becoming a true payment currency rather than just a transaction object.

summary

The traditional payment system, which revolves around credit cards and bank accounts and operates on a "channel + platform" model, may be disrupted by a new "infrastructure + application" model.

Coinbase, Stripe, and other participants are expected to demonstrate that when payment infrastructure is open and modular enough, third-party applications can quickly build various payment services like building blocks.

The future payment market may no longer be dominated by the "channel monopoly" of Visa and Mastercard, but by competition among multiple open stablecoin payment infrastructure platforms, each trying to attract as many applications and users as possible.

From a broader perspective, Coinbase and Stripe's acquisitions of stablecoin payment systems are not isolated incidents, but rather reflect a profound transformation of the entire financial ecosystem. Stablecoins have gone from a fringe topic in the crypto world to a mainstream force that the global financial system must address. At this historical juncture, whoever controls the best payment infrastructure controls the gateway to the future of finance.

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