Why Mastercard’s $2-Billion Crypto Move Could End Traditional Banking Hours

Take key

• Mastercard is in talks to buy Zero Hash, after earlier interest in BVNK, in a push towards establishing a 24/7 stablecoin.

• The deals could give Mastercard a turnkey onchain payments stack, speeding its move from pilot to production.

• Stablecoin-based settlement will allow banks and merchants to transact continuously, eliminating batch cutoffs and weekend delays.

• However, operational, compliance and liquidity challenges mean that a hybrid phase will likely persist before full 24/7 adoption.

Mastercard is referred to in advanced discussions to acquire crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash for between $1.5 billion and $2 billion after first exploring a similar-sized deal for stablecoin platform BVNK.

Rather than building each onchain component itself, Mastercard appears to be exploring the acquisition of a turnkey stablecoin infrastructure provider that could be plugged into its existing payment network. If this goes ahead, it could accelerate the establishment beyond the traditional restrictions of the business day towards a more continuous 24/7/365 model.

What the rumored $2 billion actually buys

Zero Hash and BVNK do similar heavy lifting for institutions. They provide regulated custody, conversion, payments and the orchestration that allows banks, brokers or processors to process. between fiat and stablecoins without rebuilding compliance from scratch.

Folding one or both in Mastercard will accelerate its path from pilot to production, bringing license footprints and customer integrations on the first day. These discussions cannot be guaranteed to close, but the strategic intent is clear.

Because “banking hours” begin to fade

Card payments today are still reconciled through batch windows, week cutoffs and matching chains. Stablecoins operate beyond the limits of banking hours. Mastercard has already established two key pieces of scaffolding for that world:

• Multi-Token Network (MTN): A toolkit for secure and programmable transactions in cash and tokenized assets.

• Crypto Credential: A verification layer that allows exchanges and wallets to transact using human-readable identifiers while maintaining compliance checks.

Add stablecoin settlement to that stack, and buyers can receive hourly funds, chain net bonds and sweep treasuries in minutes instead of T+1 or T+2.

do you know In August 2025, Mastercard’s Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa division launched a program with Circle that allows buyers to settle in USDC (USDC) or EURC (EURC) and pay merchants directly from those balances.

How to work

A customer pays with a card or linked wallet. Instead of waiting for the fiat batch to close, the buyer can choose to receive the settlement in stablecoins. Obligations between issuers and acquirers are then cleared on-chain through approved custody and liquidity partners.

Treasury teams can then sweep funds in near real time, apply programmable rules for foreign exchange (FX) and fees and convert back to fiat when needed. An acquisition like Zero Hash provides the custodial and payment backbone, while BVNK adds enterprise-grade stablecoin orchestration.

For banks and processors, this translates into fewer vendors to integrate and faster time to market.

What changes for the ecosystem

For banks and buyers, always-on settlement reduces pre-funding requirements and intraday overdraft exposure, reducing weekend and holiday bottlenecks.

However, it also introduces new responsibilities. Onchain surveillance, key management and smart contract risk controls must meet card network standards.

For merchants and treasurers, continuous settlement via stablecoins can improve working capital efficiency and simplify reconciliation. Some may choose to keep stablecoins for part of their flows, while others automatically convert to local currency. However, transparent onchain records will simplify audits and shorten dispute times.

For cross-border payments, stablecoins shorten the chains of correspondents and keep payment corridors open after hours. While they do not eliminate all FX or tax complexity, they can significantly reduce the mechanical friction that currently makes international payments slow and unpredictable.

That could also slow down the switch to 24/7

The 24/7 facility is within reach, but a few obstacles could slow the transition:

• Fiat Ramp Limits: Automated clearing house and single euro payment area cuts, real-time gross settlement maintenance windows and bank compliance signature can reintroduce “trading hours” when moving between crypto and cash.

• Operational risk: Key casesmart contract bugs, chain congestion and reserve or depeg issues require thorough audits, incident response plans and adequate insurance coverage.

• Compliance and accounting reality: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls and sanctions, Travel Rules requirements, dispute and chargeback management, and enterprise resource planning or reporting workflows must be redesigned for a continuous solution. Many treasurers are still likely to automatically convert to fiat in the early days.

• Market and Seller Limitations: Liquidity can decrease by location or time of day, and spreads are often extended during periods of stress. Stablecoin Issuer Governance, reliability of the oraclecustody connectivity and network fees can all be bottlenecks to scale.

In short, expect a hybrid phase where onchain settlement continues to expand as fiat infrastructure, politics and back-office tools catch up.

What to watch next

A few indicators will reveal whether “banking hours” are gone for good:

• A completed Zero Hash acquisition

• A definitive result on the BVNK discussions, whether an agreement was reached or not and why

• USDC and EURC settlement expands to new regions and buyers with significant volumes

• MTN and Crypto Credential implementations progressing from pilots to live bank or processor rollouts.

If these pieces fall into place, the establishment will begin to follow the needs of the business rather than the clock.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and business move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.