Mastercard Aims to Acquire Crypto and Stablecoin Infrastructure Startup Zerohash

The companies are in late-stage talks on a $1.5 billion to $2 billion acquisition, though the deal could still fall through, Fortune reported Wednesday (Oct. 29), citing unnamed sources.

Reached by PYMNTS, zerohash said in an emailed statement: “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation about our business.”

Mastercard declined to comment on the report.

According to the Fortune report, zerohash supports companies’ efforts around stablecoins, crypto trading platforms and application programming interfaces for tokenization.

Zerohash announced in a Sept. 22 press release that it raised $104 million in new funding in a Series D-2 round to speed its product expansion and hire new talent.

The company said in the release that the round happened amid a surge in demand for enterprise-grade on-chain infrastructure, triggered by a boom in consumer adoption and new regulatory clarity in the United States and Europe.

“This raise, and the caliber of our investors and clients, is testament to the trust we’ve built,” zerohash Founder and CEO Edward Woodford said in the release. “It further underscores the scale and the proven track record that we have developed since founding in 2017. Crypto, stablecoins and tokenization aren’t coming — it’s here — and zerohash is the engine behind the scenes.”

It was reported on Sept. 23 that zerohash partnered with Morgan Stanley to enable that company’s online stock trading arm, E-Trade, to add cryptocurrency trading to its platform in the first half of 2026. The service will initially allow E-Trade clients to trade bitcoin, ether and solana.

On Oct. 3, it was reported that zerohash will power cryptocurrency trading and custody services that OnePay plans to add to its financial app. OnePay is a FinTech company that is majority-owned by Walmart, and its new services will enable users to access bitcoin and ether later this year.

It was reported on Oct. 9 that Mastercard and crypto exchange Coinbase were vying to acquire BVNK, a FinTech company specializing in stablecoin payment infrastructure. The report said BVNK provides enterprise-level infrastructure that enables businesses to facilitate payments using stablecoin.