Mastercard has agreed to acquire BVNK for up to US$1.8 billion, including US$300 million in contingent payments.
The deal is intended to expand Mastercard’s support for digital assets and value transfers across currencies, rails and regions.
Digital assets powered by blockchain technology are growing in use, with payment volumes expected to reach at least US$350 billion by 2025.
Regulatory clarity in several jurisdictions has increased interest from financial institutions and fintechs in offering services using stablecoins and tokenised deposits.
Card payments continue to provide broad acceptance, consumer protections, and access for billions of people.
Crypto wallets have increasingly used cards to enable consumer payments with digital currencies.
Stablecoins and tokenised deposits may find applications in cross-border remittances, payouts, peer-to-peer and business-to-business payments, with potential for faster and programmable transactions in commercial areas such as treasury management and capital markets.
Mastercard aims to connect digital and fiat payment rails securely and compliantly, ensuring interoperability.
Bringing together the capabilities of Mastercard and BVNK is expected to provide infrastructure that connects multiple systems and blockchains.
Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, said:
“We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenised deposits. We want to support them and their customers with a best in class, highly compliant, interoperable offering that brings the benefits of tokenised money to the real world.”
Jesse Hemson-Struthers, Co-Founder and CEO of BVNK, said:
“This deal brings together complementary capabilities to define and deliver the future of money. Together, we’re able to deliver an unprecedented infrastructure for digital currency-based financial services.”
Mastercard expects to complete the acquisition before the end of the year.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by farknot via Freepik
