Zerohash raises at $1.5B+ valuation after Mastercard pivots to BVNK

Zerohash is raising fresh capital at a valuation above $1.5 billion after Mastercard abandoned plans to invest in the Chicago-based crypto infrastructure firm, opting instead to acquire UK stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for $1.8 billion in March.

Mastercard had been weighing a strategic investment in Zerohash since January — even after Zerohash opted to stay independent following earlier takeover talks that had valued the company at up to $2 billion, Fortune reported in October. The payments giant then agreed to buy London-based BVNK, a competing stablecoin rail. Zerohash, meanwhile, is now pressing ahead with a new round at a higher valuation than the $1.5 billion mark floated earlier this year.

Founded in 2017, Zerohash sells APIs and embeddable developer tools that let banks, brokerages and fintechs offer crypto, stablecoin and tokenization products to their end users. The platform serves more than 5 million users across 190 countries and counts Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, Stripe, BlackRock's BUIDL fund, Franklin Templeton and DraftKings among its clients. It was last valued at $1 billion after closing a $104 million Series D-2 in September 2025 led by Interactive Brokers, with Morgan Stanley, Apollo-managed funds, SoFi, Jump Crypto, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures and others joining.

Why it matters

Mastercard's pivot to BVNK was the more visible headline, but Zerohash's ability to come back with a higher valuation is the read investors will focus on. A rejected strategic bid from a top-tier payments network normally compresses a private company's negotiating leverage in the next round — Zerohash is testing that by pricing above its prior $1.5B mark rather than below it. The implication: demand from institutional capital for stablecoin and tokenization rails is broad enough that the loss of one anchor bidder hasn't reset the price.

The client list explains the bid.