# BVNK

Updated: September 26, 2026

> BVNK is a stablecoin payment orchestration provider for businesses: pay-ins, conversion and payouts between fiat and stablecoins in 130+ countries through one API. Founded in London in 2021 by Jesse Hemson-Struthers, Donald Jackson and Chris Harmse, it grew out of Cape Town's Coindirect; it raised $40 million from Tiger Global (2022) and $50 million from Haun Ventures (2024), followed by strategic investments from Visa and Citi Ventures (2025). On March 17, 2026 Mastercard agreed to buy it for $1.5 billion plus up to $300 million in earnout and closed on August 3, 2026 — the first outright purchase of stablecoin infrastructure by a major card network. Its regulatory perimeter: an FCA EMI in the UK, an MFSA EMI and MiCA CASP in Malta passported across the EEA, MSB and state licences in the US with 50-state coverage via Paxos.

- **Type per classification**: 1. Payment orchestration
- **Founded**: 2021, London; Jesse Hemson-Struthers, Donald Jackson, Chris Harmse
- **Headquarters**: London (91–93 Farringdon Road); offices in Malta, San Francisco and New York
- **Ownership**: Mastercard (deal closed August 3, 2026; $1.5B plus up to $300M earnout)
- **Leadership**: Jesse Hemson-Struthers, CEO
- **Legal entities**: BVNK Holdings Limited (group); BVNK Services Limited; System Pay Services Ltd (EMI, UK); System Pay Services (Malta) Ltd (EMI and CASP); System Pay Services (US), Inc.
- **Licences**: FCA EMI (FRN 901057, acquired November 2022); MFSA EMI (February 2024) and MiCA CASP (February 2026) passported across the EEA; Bank of Spain VASP registration (2022); FinCEN MSB and state licences (NMLS 2531294), 50 states via Paxos
- **Stablecoins**: USDC, USDT, EURC, PYUSD, USDG; fiat USD, EUR, GBP
- **Volume**: Over $39B annualized (September 2026, company data)
- **Regions**: UK, EEA, US, Latin America, Asia; payouts to 130+ countries

## Structure and history

BVNK Services Limited was incorporated in London on August 5, 2021 and the platform launched in October 2021; its predecessor was the Cape Town crypto platform Coindirect (2017), run by Hemson-Struthers and Jackson. In May 2022 the company raised a $40 million Series A led by Tiger Global at a $340 million valuation, and in November 2022 it acquired the UK EMI System Pay Services Ltd. The $50 million Series B of December 17, 2024 was led by Haun Ventures with Coinbase Ventures, Scribble, DRW, Avenir and Tiger Global; according to Fortune, the valuation was about $750 million on roughly $40 million in annualized revenue and $10 billion in volume. In 2025 Visa (May 6) and Citi Ventures (October 9) became strategic investors, amounts undisclosed.

In autumn 2025, according to Fortune, Coinbase and Mastercard competed for the company at a $1.5–2.5 billion valuation; exclusive talks with Coinbase ended in November 2025. On March 17, 2026 Mastercard announced the purchase of 100% of BVNK Holdings Limited for $1.5 billion with up to $300 million in performance-based earnout; the deal closed on August 3, 2026, ahead of schedule. BVNK keeps its brand, team and products and operates as a subsidiary; the stated goal is stablecoin capabilities across Mastercard's endpoints, 24/7 settlement for acquirers and processors, and stablecoin checkout in Mastercard Gateway. According to the August 2026 digest issue, after the closing Visa issued a request for proposals for a new stablecoin settlement partner.

## Products

The core is a payments API: pay-ins and payouts in fiat (Swift, SEPA, ACH, Faster Payments) and stablecoins with automatic conversion. Supported assets are USDC (Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, BNB), USDT (Ethereum, Tron, Polygon, BNB), EURC, PYUSD (since May 2024) and USDG (Solana); the Stellar network was added on September 22, 2026. Named virtual accounts in euros and pounds via the Maltese EMI have operated since February 21, 2024, with direct SEPA access via the Bank of Lithuania's CENTROlink. Layer1 (June 27, 2024) is self-hosted infrastructure with key management, a trading engine and screening for clients that need their own perimeter. Embedded Wallets (March 5, 2025) provide embedded fiat and stablecoin accounts for platforms.

Public clients and partners: Worldpay (stablecoin payouts to 180+ markets, May 2025), Deel (contractor payouts, and from May 2026 stablecoin salaries in the US and eurozone), Rapyd, Flywire (USDC/USDT pilot, August 2025), dLocal (40+ markets, June 2025), LianLian Global (June 2025), Bitso Business (Latin America, August 2025), Corpay, TransferMate, Highnote, Trust Payments. A USDC partnership with Circle has run since October 2024, and Visa Direct payout pilots funded with stablecoins since January 2026. Annualized volume grew from $2 billion in 2022 to $10 billion at the end of 2024, $20+ billion in October 2025 and over $39 billion by September 2026 per company data.

## Licences and regulation

In the UK the fiat leg is served by the EMI System Pay Services Ltd (FCA FRN 901057), acquired in November 2022; crypto services are not FCA-regulated in the UK, and financial promotions are approved by Archax Ltd. In the EEA, System Pay Services (Malta) Ltd operates as an MFSA EMI since February 2024 and holds MiCA CASP authorisation announced on February 16, 2026, passported to EEA countries; a Bank of Spain VASP registration was obtained in October 2022. In the US, System Pay Services (US), Inc. is registered as an MSB (NMLS 2531294) with money transmitter licences in some states; 50-state coverage is provided through a partnership with Paxos as regulated trust and custodian (August 2025). The company claims more than 40 licences and registrations. No regulatory actions, fines, outages or lawsuits against BVNK were found in available sources.

## What to watch

- BVNK's integration into Mastercard's settlement products and Mastercard Gateway; the outcome of Visa's search for a new partner.
- Achievement of the targets behind the additional $300 million payout.
- Expansion of US state licences and BVNK's own authorisation under the GENIUS Act.
- The fate of the independent competitor Zerohash after BVNK's move to Mastercard.

## Sources

- [Mastercard, on the agreement to acquire BVNK (March 2026)](https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2026/Mastercard-to-Acquire-BVNK-to-Connect-On-Chain-Payments-and-Fiat-Rails/default.aspx)
- [Mastercard, on completing the BVNK acquisition (August 2026)](https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2026/Mastercard-completes-acquisition-of-BVNK-to-advance-global-stablecoin-capabilities/default.aspx)
- [BVNK, on joining Mastercard (March 2026)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/why-bvnk-is-joining-mastercard)
- [BVNK, on the closing (August 2026)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-joins-mastercard)
- [Mastercard, Form 10-Q for Q2 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001141391/000114139126000083/ma-20260630.htm)
- [Companies House, BVNK Holdings Limited](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13922014)
- [Companies House, BVNK Services Limited](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13549382)
- [BVNK, about us](https://bvnk.com/about-us)
- [TechCrunch, on the Series A (May 2022)](https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/11/bvnk-grabs-40-million-for-its-crypto-banking-services/)
- [CoinDesk, on the Series A and platform launch (May 2022)](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/05/12/crypto-banking-platform-bvnk-raises-40m-to-drive-regulatory-push)
- [BVNK, on the Series B (December 2024)](https://bvnk.com/blog/series-b-fuel-next-era-of-stablecoin-payments)
- [Fortune, on the Series B valuation (December 2024)](https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/12/17/exclusive-stablecoin-bvnk-750-million-series-b-bridge-stripe-haun/)
- [BVNK, on Visa's investment (May 2025)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/visa-invests-in-bvnk)
- [Citi Ventures, on investing in BVNK (October 2025)](https://www.citi.com/ventures/perspectives/pressrelease/investing-in-bvnk.html)
- [Fortune, on talks with Coinbase and Mastercard (October 2025)](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-coinbase-mastercard-both-held-211222814.html)
- [Fortune, on the end of the Coinbase talks (November 2025)](https://fortune.com/2025/11/11/coinbase-bvnk-2-billion-deal-falls-through-stablecoins/)
- [BVNK, on acquiring a UK EMI (November 2022)](https://bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-acquires-uk-licensed-e-money-institution-to-accelerate-expansion)
- [BVNK, on its Bank of Spain VASP registration (October 2022)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-secures-registration-as-a-virtual-asset-services-provider-by-bank-of-spain)
- [BVNK, on the Maltese EMI and named accounts (February 2024)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/e-money-institution-europe-b2b-payments)
- [BVNK, on its MiCA licence (February 2026)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-secures-mica-licence)
- [BVNK, on 50-state US coverage with Paxos (August 2025)](https://bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-offers-stablecoin-payments-in-50-us-states)
- [BVNK, on launching Layer1 (June 2024)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/layer-1)
- [BVNK, on launching Embedded Wallets (March 2025)](https://bvnk.com/blog/introducing-embedded-wallets)
- [BVNK, supported currencies reference](https://docs.bvnk.com/bvnk/references/currencies/)
- [BVNK, on the USDC partnership with Circle (October 2024)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/partnership-circle-usdc)
- [BVNK, on Worldpay stablecoin payouts (May 2025)](https://bvnk.com/blog/worldpay-bvnk-enable-stablecoin-payouts)
- [BVNK, on the LianLian Global partnership (June 2025)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-lianlian-bring-stablecoin-powered-payments-to-merchants)
- [The Paypers, on the Flywire pilot with BVNK (August 2025)](https://thepaypers.com/crypto-web3-and-cbdc/news/flywire-to-begin-testing-stablecoin-payments-with-bvnk)
- [The Fintech Times, on the Bitso Business and BVNK partnership (August 2025)](https://thefintechtimes.com/bitso-business-and-bvnk-join-forces-to-simplify-international-money-movement-through-stablecoins/)
- [BVNK, on stablecoin-funded Visa Direct payouts (January 2026)](https://www.bvnk.com/blog/bvnk-powers-stablecoin-payments-for-visa-direct)
- [The Paypers, on Deel's stablecoin salary payouts (May 2026)](https://thepaypers.com/crypto-web3-and-cbdc/news/deel-launches-stablecoin-salary-payouts)
- [The Paypers, on the Stellar integration (September 2026)](https://thepaypers.com/crypto-web3-and-cbdc/news/bvnk-integrates-stellar-blockchain-into-stablecoin-payments-platform)

## Mentioned in the digest

- [August 2026 — Mastercard closes the BVNK acquisition ahead of schedule; Visa issues an RFP for a new stablecoin settlement partner](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_August_2026)

Canonical: https://stblcns.xyz/en/wiki/infrastructure/bvnk