Stablecoin firm BVNK is in talks with investors with the hope of raising $50 million in a new funding round. The talks are coming after Stripe reportedly announced the acquisition of stablecoin startup Bridge in October.
According to inside sources familiar with the development, the stablecoin startup is in talks to complete the funding round soon. BVNK has projected the funding round to bring in about $50 million.
BVNK kickstarts funding round talks
The stablecoin startup is yet to issue an official announcement, but sources familiar with the development have confirmed to Bloomberg News that talks are ongoing. The sources also mentioned that things may remain private until the company feels like releasing an announcement.
The sources also noted that the company’s size and valuation will likely change during the early negotiation stage. The news is coming after Stripe’s announcement in October. The tech firm announced the acquisition of stablecoin startup Bridge in a $1.1 billion deal. The acquisition has left stablecoin investors with fresh air, with most looking into investing in the firms.
The acquisition may also be responsible for the positive signal towards the funding round BVNK wants to carry out. Bridge held a seed round in 2022, before carrying out another one in August. Coinbase, Sequoia, and Ribbit Capital were part of the investors involved in the first round. Insider sources said the company’s valuation rose to $350 million after the seed round.
Institutional investors choose stablecoins, Visa unveils tokenized asset platform
Stablecoins are gaining rapid attention in the DeFi sector, with firms choosing it as their must-have asset. Coinbase executive Jesse Pollak announced on November 13 that the Utopia Labs team will join Base. Pollak said he expects the integration to enhance the company’s plans for its wallet.
Financial platforms like Visa have also been pushing the adoption of stablecoins worldwide as regulators begin creating a regulatory framework for the assets. For instance, PayPal made a play for the sector by unveiling its PYUSD stablecoin. SWIFT also announced that it will allow banks to start conducting tests on tokenized transactions by next year.
In other news, Visa announced the launch of its Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) in October. The platform, according to the company, will allow financial institutions to issue tokens backed by fiat. The platform is built on blockchain and uses smart contracts to enable banks to transact using stablecoin.
Stablecoin usage has also increased, with data from Squads Protocol putting the transaction volume above $2.3 trillion. CoinGecko data also puts the entire market cap of stablecoin at $185 billion, representing about 7.7% of the crypto industry market cap. The metric also puts USDT’s market cap at 70% of the entire stablecoins cap, while USDC represents about 20%.