Visa seeks new stablecoin partner after Mastercard acquired BVNK

Visa ↘ 1.46% is searching for a new stablecoin payments and settlement partner after its previous collaborator, BVNK, was acquired by rival Mastercard ↘ 1.23%, according to a report by CoinDesk on Monday.bloomingbit+1

The payments giant recently issued a request for proposals seeking a stablecoin payments and over-the-counter trading partner that holds digital-asset exchange licenses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore, CoinDesk reported. The partner would handle settlement for the Open USD stablecoin project and support exchanges across multiple stablecoins.cryptonomist+1

A Gap Left by Mastercard's Deal

The search stems directly from Mastercard's completed acquisition of London-based BVNK, which closed on August 3 for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in performance-contingent payments. BVNK had been powering stablecoin payments for Visa Direct, Visa's real-time payments network, since earlier this year. Mastercard's deal effectively removed Visa's infrastructure partner from the board.mastercard+2

The candidate pool is narrow by design. Visa's requirement that any partner hold crypto exchange licenses across all four jurisdictions simultaneously eliminates most contenders, and the company is reviewing specific firms that meet those conditions. Visa declined to comment on the search.bloomingbit+1

Open USD and the Stablecoin Race

The new partner will play a central role in the Open USD project, a stablecoin initiative launched on June 30 by a consortium called Open Standard that includes Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase ↗ 1.40%, BlackRock ↘ 2.27% and more than 140 other companies. Open USD, a dollar-pegged token set to go live on the Solana blockchain later this year, promises free issuance and redemption with shared governance among partners.reuters+2

Visa had already been building toward this moment. In July, the company launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, an enterprise service allowing institutions to issue, store, transfer and redeem stablecoins, with Open USD as its first supported token.coindesk

Competitive Pressures Mount

The urgency behind Visa's search reflects how quickly stablecoins have moved from experimental technology to core payments infrastructure. Stripe's $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin firm Bridge in late 2024 put early pressure on both card networks to act. Mastercard responded with the BVNK deal, announced in March, while Visa has opted to build its own platform and seek licensed partners rather than acquire outright. The total stablecoin market now stands at roughly $300 billion, according to CoinGecko data cited by industry observers, making the settlement layer beneath these tokens one of the most contested spaces in payments.cnbc+2