Mastercard has completed its acquisition of BVNK, a payments platform that supports XRP and has worked with Ripple since 2024. The deal targets the growing stablecoin market, and BVNK's existing ties to Ripple give the purchase a direct XRP angle.
The payments giant has finished buying BVNK, a fintech platform that processes payments in XRP and has a multi-year working relationship with Ripple. The stablecoin market is now valued at more than $309 billion, and that growth is the main reason behind the deal.
Why Mastercard wanted BVNK
Mastercard has said its main task is not to create new digital currencies but to connect existing financial rails with the on-chain economy. BVNK provides the infrastructure behind payments across 130 countries, letting businesses convert, hold, move and store fiat and digital money. Bringing BVNK's technology in-house will let Mastercard accelerate cross-border B2B payments, treasury flows and settlements for banks and fintech companies.
The XRP and Ripple link
BVNK is often described as a long-standing Ripple partner, and XRP is explicitly listed as a supported asset in BVNK's official technical documentation. The platform natively processes incoming deposits and outgoing payments in XRP through its multichain system.
The two companies began working together in 2024, when Ripple was preparing to launch its institutional stablecoin, RLUSD. At the time, executives at Standard Custody, the custodial company Ripple acquired, publicly identified BVNK as a critical partner for the B2B2C segment.
Overlapping partner programs
Neither company is bound to the other by exclusive agreements, but they operate in the same corporate payments segment. Both are members of Mastercard's global Crypto Partner Program, where participants jointly develop future blockchain products, and both help build Mastercard's Multi-Token Network infrastructure. Ripple has also separately joined Mastercard's CBDC Partner Program.
Ripple has previously said the stablecoin industry's growth is "a rising tide that lifts all boats". In this expanding market, Mastercard has positioned itself as a connecting hub through BVNK's technology.
Source: U.Today
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