Mastercard Outbids Rivals to Acquire Stablecoin Firm BVNK

Mastercard's recent $1.8 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK was a long and hard-fought journey, one that began with Concentric, an early investor in BVNK, backing the startup in 2019 at a valuation of just $4 million.

Kjartan Rist, founding partner of Concentric, recalled being introduced to BVNK in 2018 by an alumni CEO they had already backed. 'They were serial entrepreneurs coming out of South Africa,' he said. 'They'd never built businesses outside of South Africa, but they were hungry. They were relentless.'

The acquisition follows Stripe's $1.1 billion purchase of stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge in late 2024, which may have put pressure on other card networks and payments players to start competing for similar companies.

According to Rist, Mastercard has the 'deepest respect' for Stripe due to its 'aggressive approach' and 'simplicity in offering.' He also stated that while Coinbase had offered as much as $2.5 billion for BVNK at one point, the chemistry between the two parties didn't work out.

Visa also took a shine to BVNK but decided not to pursue an acquisition, opting instead to partner with multiple operators and Stripe.