Coinbase Ends $2B BVNK Acquisition Talks Amid Stablecoin Race

Coinbase has ended its talks to acquire stablecoin startup BVNK. The discussions had reached an advanced stage and were valued at about $2 billion, marking one of the largest potential deals in the stablecoin sector.

According to Fortune, both Coinbase and Mastercard had expressed an interest in acquiring BVNK–a London-based fintech that develops infrastructure for stablecoin payments. The two companies began exclusive negotiations, but those discussions have now ended without a deal.

BVNK’s Growing Stablecoin Role

BVNK assists companies to streamline stablecoins payments into their systems. In December 2023, the company raised $50 million at a valuation of $750 million. Visa earlier this year announced an undisclosed investment in BVNK.

The proposed $2 billion deal would have been a substantial premium above other recent stablecoin acquisitions. Stripe purchased stablecoin platform Bridge in October for $1.1 billion, locking down the deal entirely in February amid one of the industry’s largest buyouts.

The development of their own stablecoin payments platform followed Coinbase’s involvement with BVNK. The product aims to assist companies in updating financial practices and interfacing with blockchain-based payment networks. The move demonstrated that Coinbase aims to go beyond trading and looking at enterprise financial infrastructure.

Coinbase Ends Talks as Stablecoin Acquisitions Accelerate

In early October, both companies were said to have been considering bidding for BVNK. Coinbase later agreed to exclusive talks, but backed out of the discussions. The reasons for the breakdown in talks were not made public.

The unsuccessful transaction followed a flurry of acquisitions targeting the infrastructure for stablecoins. Mastercard is negotiating a deal to buy Zerohash for somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, alongside Stripe’s purchase of Bridge.

Coinbase has been active in mergers and acquisitions this year. In August, it bought derivatives trading platform Deribit for $2.9 billion in ‘Everything Exchange’ Push . The exchange also completed a $375 million acquisition of fundraising platform Echo and its token sale product, Sonar.

The stablecoin market has boomed in recent years. The total capitalization has increased by more than $120 billion to around $305.181 billion, according to data from DeFiLlama. It declined by 0.67% in the past week.

The end of the BVNK talks marks a union pause for Coinbase, which has been making big acquisitions. The interaction remains a critical one to the crypto infrastructure as the world’s payment giants battle for stablecoin supremacy.