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Mastercard Eyes $2 Billion Deal For Zerohash
Mastercard is gearing up to make a big splash in the growing stablecoin market.
The discussions have not been finalized, but several of the sources told Fortune that the potential sale price is between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
The potential acquisition is the second this month that Mastercard is reportedly pursuing as it looks to expand its stablecoin and tokenization infrastructure amid growing competition.
Mastercard and America’s leading crypto exchange, Coinbase, were engaged in a bidding war to acquire BVNK, the London-based fintech that builds stablecoin payment infrastructure, for around $2 billion, Fortune also reported in early October. While no deal has been announced yet, sources claim that Coinbase outbid Mastercard and is now in exclusivity talks with BVNK.
 
Mastercard has long been active in the crypto industry, perhaps most significantly through its vast support of and experimentation with cryptocurrency debit and crypto cards for exchanges such as Binance, Gemini, and OKX.
More recently, Mastercard has forayed into the stablecoin space, including signing a partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle and joining the Global Dollar consortium alongside Kraken and Robinhood.
Wave Of Massive Corporate Interest In Stablecoins
If completed, the acquisition of Zerohash would be the largest stablecoin-related deal to date, underscoring how mainstream financial and cryptocurrency companies are competing to control the next wave of digital payments.
A year ago, Stripe acquired another stablecoin startup, Bridge, for $1.1 billion, highlighting the increasing demand for blockchain-based payment networks.
Zerohash is an API-first infrastructure provider that lets banks, fintechs, and brokerages embed crypto, stablecoins, and tokenization into their existing platforms. It also provides the payment infrastructure behind notable tokenized funds such as BlackRock’s BUIDL.
Stablecoin activity has only heated up this year amid a more lenient political and regulatory environment, including the passage of the GENIUS Act, which established a fundamental set of rules for issuing and trading stablecoins.
The stablecoin market cap has rocketed to over $312 billion, a roughly $100 billion growth this year, signaling its continued maturation.
If the Mastercard-Zerohash deal is finalized, it could reshape how stablecoins flow through both crypto and traditional financial systems.