Stablecoins just moved to a core financial infrastructure, and most investors haven’t caught up, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations.
Nigel Green of deVere Group’s comments come as Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK, the London-based stablecoin infrastructure firm, in a deal worth up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in performance-linked payments.
It marks Mastercard’s largest move yet into digital currency infrastructure, and the biggest stablecoin infrastructure acquisition on record, surpassing Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge in 2024.
He says: “Mastercard doesn’t make an acquisition like this on a hunch. This is one of the most conservative, risk-averse companies in global finance putting real capital behind stablecoins as permanent infrastructure, not a passing trend.
“Investors still treating digital currencies as a speculative sideshow are behind a shift that just received one of the clearest institutional endorsements it could possibly get.”
The deVere CEO points to the scale of what Mastercard is actually buying as evidence this goes well beyond experimentation.
“BVNK isn’t some early-stage startup with a clever idea and no customers,” he says. “It’s already processing around $30 billion in annualised payment volume, and that figure grew more than double year over year.
“Mastercard is buying proven infrastructure with real transaction volume behind it, not a concept.”
He argues the deal signals a broader shift in how incumbent financial institutions view digital currencies.
“For years, traditional payments companies treated stablecoins with suspicion.
“What we’re watching now is the opposite. Mastercard chose to buy this capability outright rather than partner or build it internally, and that tells you how seriously it takes the competitive threat of standing still.”
Nigel Green notes that BVNK’s reach across more than 130 countries and its work with major clients including Worldpay and Visa Direct point to how embedded this infrastructure already is.
“This technology is already sitting inside some of the biggest names in global payments.
“Mastercard isn’t betting on future adoption. It’s buying into adoption that has already happened.”
He highlights the specific use cases driving this shift as particularly relevant for investors focused on business and institutional finance rather than retail speculation.
“Cross-border B2B payments, remittances, settlement and treasury flows are the areas Mastercard is targeting here.
“These are unglamorous but enormous markets, and traditional rails moving money through them have stayed slow and expensive for years.
“Stablecoin infrastructure fixes that problem directly, and that’s where the real commercial value sits.”
Nigel Green points to the wider pattern of consolidation in this space as confirmation the shift is accelerating.
Stablecoin-related transactions have been rising steadily, with more than a dozen announced last year alone.
“Mastercard’s move is likely to push other incumbents to make similar decisions quickly, because nobody wants to be the payments giant left without this capability.”
The deVere CEO concludes: “Digital currency infrastructure is no longer a fringe allocation for investors comfortable with high risk.
“It’s becoming a core part of how global payments actually function, backed by companies with decades of credibility and enormous balance sheets.
“Investors who wait until this becomes obvious to everyone will likely have missed the point at which real value gets created.”
