Why Does Mastercard Want To Buy ZeroHash?

 Mastercard (NYSE:MA) is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire crypto infrastructure firm ZeroHash for as much as $2 billion. The deal would be among the largest acquisitions ever in the crypto infrastructure space, signaling Mastercard’s ambition to control some of the underlying tech that connects traditional finance to digital assets. ZeroHash is a behind-the-scenes technology company that provides infrastructure for crypto and stablecoin transactions for banks, payment firms, and fintech applications. Instead of requiring companies to build complex systems from scratch, it offers a platform that handles crypto trading, custody, compliance, and fiat conversions – effectively serving as essential plumbing for digital finance.

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Why Mastercard Wants ZeroHash

Mastercard has already been using ZeroHash. Since 2022, it has relied on ZeroHash’s system to power parts of its “Crypto Credential” program, which helps banks and apps let customers buy, sell, or move crypto with complete regulatory compliance. Bringing ZeroHash in-house would give Mastercard full control of that infrastructure, and potentially prevent competitors such as Visa from using the same tools. The reported price tag does raise some eyebrows. ZeroHash raised $104 million just two months ago at a $1 billion valuation. Now with the reported deal valued at between $1.5 billion to $2 billion means Mastercard is offering as much as a 100% premium. That said, the premium buys a fully built, compliant, and proven system in a fast-growing segment.

ZeroHash’s technology already underpins services offered by multiple fintech companies. The recent European MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) license granted to ZeroHash allows it to operate legally across more than 30 countries in the European Economic Area under the new EU digital asset regulatory framework. This makes ZeroHash one of the very few turnkey providers fully authorized to serve banks, fintechs, and payment platforms across the EU with compliant crypto and stablecoin infrastructure.

The company already provides the infrastructure that lets fintechs such as Wirex bridge digital assets with traditional money flows, handling compliance, conversions, and settlement behind the scenes. Combine that with Mastercard’s network of 100 million merchants, its global fraud-prevention systems, and decades of trust with customers and regulators. This could help it to offer a stablecoin payments ecosystem that operates safely and at a large scale. related: Retailers Embrace Stablecoins. But Will Shoppers Care?

The Bigger Bet: Owning the Future of Payments

Stablecoins were once viewed as a threat to card networks, promising to let consumers pay merchants directly and bypass transaction fees. Now, the networks are looking to turn the narrative a bit by positioning themselves as essential partners of sorts that can make stablecoins far more useful by weaving them into global payment systems. Mastercard has previously acknowledged that stablecoins could enable fast, low-cost, and round-the-clock payments. ^[1] Yet the company has also been quite clear about what it thinks the technology is missing: reach, trust, and a seamless checkout experience. Those, Mastercard believes, are the ingredients that turn technical potential into real-world adoption.

Today, most stablecoin activity remains confined to traders moving funds between exchanges. Everyday payments—where stablecoins function like digital cash at scale— have yet to materialize and Mastercard could play an early role. Other payment majors are making bets in the space as well. Visa is rolling out its own stablecoin support across multiple blockchains. For Mastercard, this isn’t just about crypto—it’s about the future of payments, helping the company de-risk its massive share of the global payments market in an era where tokenized assets, instant settlements, and programmable money are becoming reality.

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1. Bloomberg [↩]