Coinbase abandons $2 billion acquisition of stablecoin startup BVNK, stock price falls over 4%

The American exchange Coinbase originally planned to acquire the UK stablecoin startup BVNK for $2 billion, but both parties recently announced the termination of the agreement without disclosing specific reasons.

Seizing the stablecoin infrastructure, Coinbase and Mastercard jointly bid for BVNK.

In early October this year, Coinbase and Mastercard began evaluating the acquisition of BVNK. This UK startup focuses on “stablecoin infrastructure services,” including fiat deposit and withdrawal, wallet management, compliance settlement, and other functions.

At that time, BVNK first signed an “Exclusivity Agreement” (Exclusivity Agreement) with Coinbase, which meant that they could not engage with other buyers during the negotiation period, and also temporarily halted Mastercard's bidding. The outside world generally believes that this potential $2 billion acquisition will further strengthen Coinbase's positioning in the stablecoin payment and settlement market.

Both parties suddenly announced the termination of negotiations, and Coinbase did not disclose any details.

According to a recent report by Fortune, Coinbase has abandoned this acquisition deal, and Coinbase also confirmed to the well-known coin media The Block:

“After discussions with BVNK, both parties have agreed to cease the merger process.”

The statement did not mention specific reasons, nor did it reveal whether it was due to regulatory issues, valuation discrepancies, or different integration directions. After the news broke, COIN's stock price fell by over 4% during trading, closing at $304.01.

The wave of stablecoin mergers and acquisitions continues, with traditional financial giants entering the arena.

Despite Coinbase's exit, stablecoin infrastructure remains a hot target for various fintech companies. Since 2024, there have been multiple large-scale acquisition cases related to this.

Stripe: Acquired stablecoin settlement company Bridge for approximately $1.1 billion in 2024.

Mastercard: Currently still negotiating the deal to acquire Zerohash for $1.5 to $2 billion.

These actions demonstrate that both crypto players and traditional financial giants are vying for dominance in the “stablecoin clearing and payment infrastructure.”

(Coinbase and Mastercard plan to acquire stablecoin startup BVNK at a valuation of $2.5 billion)

This article reports that Coinbase has abandoned its $2 billion acquisition of stablecoin startup BVNK, with its stock price dropping over 4%. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.