Visa Left Scrambling After Mastercard Acquires Stablecoin Partner BVNK

Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK has sent shockwaves through the stablecoin market. The company, which supports payments across more than 130 countries and processed around $30 billion in annualized stablecoin volume in 2025, was previously a partner with Visa for its real-time money movement network Visa Direct.

Visa had announced in January that BVNK would power stablecoin payments for Visa Direct pilots, allowing selected customers to fund payouts with stablecoins and recipients to receive them directly into wallets. The partnership built on a Visa Ventures investment in BVNK from May 2025.

However, Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK on August 3 has left Visa scrambling to find a new partner. CoinDesk reported that Visa has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new stablecoin settlement and over-the-counter trading partner to replace BVNK.

The RFP requires the new partner to support multiple stablecoins, have settlement capability, and hold crypto exchange licenses across the US, Canada, the UK, and Singapore. Coinbase is currently the only firm that meets all these requirements natively.