Crypto tried to cut out Visa and Mastercard — now they’re buying up blockchain companies

Mastercard agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion for BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure firm that connects blockchain payments with traditional banking rails. The deal includes $300 million in contingent payments and closes what Mastercard told investors would have taken too long to build internally: the ability to move money seamlessly across fiat and on-chain systems for remittances, payouts, P2P transfers, and B2B payme…