Main Highlights
- Mastercard is reportedly in advanced discussions to acquire crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash for $1.5 billion to $2 billion, aiming to enhance its cross-border payment capabilities.
- This potential acquisition follows earlier interest in a similar-sized deal with stablecoin platform BVNK, signaling a strategic push towards 24/7 stablecoin settlement solutions.
- Acquiring Zero Hash could provide Mastercard with a comprehensive onchain payments stack, significantly accelerating its transition from testing and pilot phases to full-scale production.
- The integration of stablecoin settlement aims to enable continuous transactions for banks and merchants, eliminating traditional batch cutoffs and weekend delays.
- Despite the potential for 24/7 operations, challenges related to operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and liquidity management suggest a hybrid phase will likely precede full adoption.
Mastercard is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash for between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. This move comes after earlier exploration of a similarly sized deal for stablecoin platform BVNK. The strategic intent appears to be acquiring a turnkey solution to integrate into its existing payment network, rather than building each onchain component in-house.
Mastercard’s Strategic Push Towards Onchain Settlement
The primary goal of these potential acquisitions is to accelerate Mastercard’s move from pilot programs to full-scale production of its onchain payment solutions. By acquiring a provider like Zero Hash, which offers regulated custody, conversions, payouts, and orchestration services, Mastercard can rapidly integrate the necessary infrastructure.
💡 This approach allows banks, brokers, and processors to seamlessly transition between fiat currencies and stablecoins without the need to rebuild compliance frameworks from scratch. These acquisitions would bring established licensing and client integrations on day one, significantly streamlining Mastercard’s expansion into the digital asset space.
The Fade of Traditional Banking Hours
Current card payment reconciliation processes often rely on batch windows, weekday cutoffs, and complex correspondent banking chains. Stablecoins, however, operate independently of these traditional banking schedules, enabling continuous transactions.
Mastercard has already been building foundational elements for this future, including its Multi-Token Network (MTN), a toolkit designed for secure, programmable transactions across tokenized money and assets. Additionally, its Crypto Credential initiative provides a verification layer allowing for compliant transactions using human-readable identifiers.
⚡ By integrating stablecoin settlement into this existing infrastructure, Mastercard aims to enable acquirers to receive funds around the clock. This would allow for onchain netting of obligations and treasury sweeps within minutes, a significant improvement over the current T+1 or T+2 settlement cycles.
In August 2025, Mastercard’s Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa division initiated a program in collaboration with Circle. This program enables acquirers to settle transactions using USDC or EURC and pay merchants directly from these balances.
How 24/7 Stablecoin Settlement Could Function
In the envisioned scenario, a customer payment initiated via card or a linked digital wallet could be settled almost immediately. Instead of waiting for traditional fiat settlement batches, the acquirer could opt to receive settlement in stablecoins.
📍 Obligations between financial institutions would then be netted onchain, facilitated by approved custody and liquidity partners. Treasury teams could then sweep funds in near real-time, apply programmable rules for foreign exchange and fees, and convert back to fiat as needed. An acquisition like Zero Hash would provide the essential custody and payout backbone, while BVNK contributes enterprise-grade stablecoin orchestration capabilities.
For banks and payment processors, this integration promises fewer vendors to manage and a reduced time-to-market for new payment solutions.
Ecosystem-Wide Implications of Continuous Settlement
The adoption of 24/7 settlement offers significant advantages for banks and acquirers. It can reduce pre-funding necessities and mitigate daylight overdraft exposure, while also easing the operational bottlenecks associated with weekends and holidays.
📌 However, this shift also introduces new responsibilities. Robust onchain surveillance, secure key management, and effective smart contract risk controls will need to meet stringent card network standards.
For merchants and their treasury departments, continuous settlement via stablecoins can lead to enhanced working capital efficiency and simplified reconciliation processes. Some businesses may choose to hold stablecoins for a portion of their transactions, while others might opt for automatic conversion to local currencies. Regardless of the chosen approach, transparent onchain records are expected to streamline audits and expedite dispute resolution.
⚡ In the realm of cross-border payments, stablecoins have the potential to shorten correspondent banking chains and maintain payment corridors that are currently constrained by business hours. While they may not eliminate all foreign exchange or tax complexities, stablecoins can substantially reduce the mechanical friction that contributes to slow and unpredictable international payouts.
Potential Roadblocks to 24/7 Settlement Adoption
While 24/7 settlement is becoming increasingly achievable, several challenges could slow its widespread adoption:
- Fiat Ramp Limitations: Automated clearing house cutoffs, single euro payments area (SEPA) downtimes, real-time gross settlement (RTGS) maintenance windows, and bank compliance approvals can reintroduce business hour constraints when moving between digital assets and traditional fiat currencies.
- Operational Risks: Critical aspects such as key custody management, potential smart contract vulnerabilities, blockchain network congestion, and concerns regarding stablecoin reserves or depegging events necessitate thorough security audits, well-defined incident response plans, and adequate insurance coverage.
- Compliance and Accounting Realities: Continuous Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and sanctions screening, adherence to Travel Rule requirements, new protocols for dispute and chargeback handling, and the redesign of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and reporting workflows are essential for 24/7 settlement. Many treasurers are likely to maintain auto-conversion to fiat during the initial phases.
- Market and Vendor Dependencies: Liquidity can become fragmented across different venues or fluctuate depending on the time of day, leading to wider bid-ask spreads during periods of market stress. The governance of stablecoin issuers, the reliability of price oracles, custody connectivity, and network transaction fees can all emerge as bottlenecks at scale.
📊 Consequently, a hybrid phase is anticipated, where onchain settlement capabilities continue to expand organically as traditional financial infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and back-office tools adapt to the evolving landscape.
What to Monitor in the Evolving Landscape
Several key indicators will signal the definitive shift away from traditional banking hours for settlements:
- The successful completion of Mastercard’s acquisition of Zero Hash.
- A clear outcome for the discussions with BVNK, regardless of whether a deal is finalized, along with the underlying reasons.
- The expansion of USDC and EURC settlement to new geographic regions and an increasing volume of transactions by acquirers.
- The progression of Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network (MTN) and Crypto Credential initiatives from pilot stages to live rollouts by banks and processors.
✅ If these developments materialize, the future of financial settlement will increasingly be dictated by business needs rather than the constraints of the clock.
Expert Summary
Mastercard’s potential acquisition of Zero Hash signals a strategic move towards enabling 24/7 stablecoin settlement, aiming to modernize payment infrastructure and reduce transaction delays. While this transition offers numerous benefits like improved efficiency and faster cross-border payments, significant operational, regulatory, and market challenges remain, suggesting a gradual, hybrid adoption process.