Coinbase Calls Off Acquisition of Stablecoin Startup BVNK

At the beginning of the month, PYMNTS reported that crypto giant Coinbase was in late-stage acquisition negotiations with U.K. stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK.

Reportedly, there was even an exclusivity agreement in place, preventing other suitors like Mastercard from making offers.

But a Coinbase spokesperson told Fortune that the deal, reportedly valued at around $2 billion, fell through. Both parties mutually agreed not to move forward with the transaction, the spokesperson said. The reasons for ending the talks were not disclosed.

PYMNTS wrote that the deal “would eclipse any prior deal in the stablecoin space, surpassing Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge.”

In a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday (Nov. 12), BVNK CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers called Coinbase a “valuable partner” and that BVNK remains “focused on building a generational payments business.” He didn’t address the reported negotiations.

BVNK, a FinTech firm specializing in stablecoin payments and cross-border transactions, claims to process over $30 billion annually. What undoubtedly made the platform appealing to Coinbase was its flexible, enterprise-grade infrastructure that provided the means for businesses to send, receive, convert and store stablecoins and fiat with compliance and scalability.

Throughout 2025, Coinbase made several major acquisitions, including its $2.9 billion purchase of crypto derivatives exchange Deribit and a $375 million buy of the fundraising platform Echo. The aborted BVNK deal would have been Coinbase’s largest foray into stablecoin infrastructure, a market valued globally at over $300 billion according to data firm DeFiLlama.

Stablecoins have gained prominence due to their ability to enable faster cross-border payments with low fees while maintaining stable value, especially as regulatory clarity has improved with the passing of the GENIUS Act. This has attracted attention from both crypto-native companies and traditional payment giants.

For example, Mastercard, which lost the BVNK sweepstakes, is reportedly in talks to acquire another crypto and stablecoin infrastructure company, Zerohash, for between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

Coinbase also recently announced that it will host the first digital token sale in the U.S. in seven years, with the first sale set to take place Nov. 17-22. According to a company blog post, investors can buy digital tokens before they appear on its exchange.