Stablecoins are moving from crypto’s fringe to the core of global payments as Mastercard has recently agreed to buy BVNK for $1.8bn. This underscores a strategic pivot toward blockchain-based settlement infrastructure. The deal highlights how payment networks are repositioning to control cross-border money flows, blending faster tokenised settlement with trusted card rails to secure relevance and revenue in an evolving digital finance ecosystem, according to GlobalData, publishers of EPI.
BVNK is a London-based provider of stablecoin payment infrastructure across borders. Operating in around 130 countries and connected to major blockchains, BVNK acts as an on-and-off ramp between tokenised cash and the banking system.
Murthy Grandhi, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, said: “The deal builds on a long-running Mastercard strategy. Mastercard began filing blockchain-related patents in the late 2010s, acquired crypto analytics capabilities in 2021, and has since tested stablecoin settlement, expanded stablecoin support on its network, and partnered with dozens of crypto firms.”
Competitors have moved similarly: Visa has used USDC for settlement and supports many stablecoin-linked card programmes; Stripe agreed to buy stablecoin platform Bridge; and PayPal launched its own dollar stablecoin.
Grandhi added: “While it may seem contradictory for the established payment giants to invest in technology once marketed as ‘disintermediating’ them, the picture changes when payments are viewed as two layers: settlement and trust.”
When a consumer taps a card, the approval is an authorisation backed by network rules, fraud systems, and issuer guarantees. Funds typically settle later via banking rails, often in batch. Merchant fees—commonly around 2% to 3% in many markets—help fund services such as point-of-sale credit, rewards, dispute resolution, chargebacks, and fraud protection, which make consumers comfortable transacting with unfamiliar parties.
Grandhi: “Stablecoins primarily compress the settlement layer. Fiat-pegged tokens can move 24/7 on blockchain rails, reaching recipients in seconds with near-immediate settlement—especially attractive in cross-border routes that remain slow and costly.
“However, stablecoins do not inherently provide the protections and commercial rules enforced by card networks. Transactions are typically irreversible, error handling is more difficult, and users still often need local-currency conversion, customer support, and compliance checks—services that bring intermediaries back into the equation.”