As the race for stablecoin payments intensifies, Mastercard (MA) is allegedly considering acquiring blockchain infrastructure firm Zero Hash.
According to individuals familiar with the situation, Fortune reported on Wednesday that the global payments and card provider is in the final stages of negotiations and may pay $1.5 billion to $2 billion for the cryptocurrency company.
According to the article, Mastercard may be losing out to Coinbase in its bid for the cryptocurrency payments company BVNK.
The stablecoin race
The announcement coincides with the emergence of stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies linked to fiat currencies like the US dollar, as the next frontier for international payment flows.
By settling on blockchains and avoiding banks, these digital tokens seek to provide a speedier, more affordable alternative to traditional rails.
According to research released this past summer by Keyrock and Bitso, institutional adoption, FX settlement, and cross-border flows may propel stablecoin payment volume to $1 trillion by 2030.
In order to assist banks in issuing and managing stablecoins, Visa announced its intentions to deploy its tokenisation platform.
For instance, Stripe is developing its own blockchain train with Paradigm and paid $1.1 billion to purchase wallet service Privy and stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge.
About Zero Hash
As institutional demand for on-chain assets increased, Zero Hash, a company that specialises in stablecoin payment infrastructure, said in April that it processed $2 billion in tokenised fund flows in the first four months of this year.
In September, the business secured $104 million, backed by Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers.
The stablecoin fever
Stablecoin enterprises have become one of the most popular sectors in the crypto market as their fortunes have surged over the past year.
Many more investment rounds and acquisition discussions ensued after the stablecoin business Bridge was purchased by the payments company Stripe for $1.1 billion in February 2025
The CEO of the massive payment business Visa, Ryan McInerney, stated that the company expects to permit many stablecoins and extend the manner in which payments may be made and money transferred via the Visa network.
Although Mastercard’s business model of collecting a tiny cut, or interchange fee, on transactions may theoretically be disrupted by stablecoins, the payments giant has long been involved in the cryptocurrency space, having acquired the blockchain analytics company CipherTrace in 2021.
Therefore, it is very clear that stablecoins are given special attention when it comes to digital assets, and they have been accepted by a lot of institutional players, especially after several regulations that came into effect after Donald Trump took office this year.
Also Read: Japan Launches First Legally Recognised Yen Stablecoin JPYC, Trading Begins