Mastercard acquires BVNK for 1.8 billion, Zerohash seeks high valuation financing, JPMorgan points out ETH's structural lag

By: rootdata|2026/05/21 20:45:01

According to BBX data, yesterday the layout of traditional payment institutions in the cryptocurrency infrastructure showed divergence, with institutions having clear differences in their views on ETH and the altcoin sector. The core dynamics are as follows:

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: $MA) signed an acquisition agreement for the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK on March 17 for a maximum of $1.8 billion (including $300 million in performance-based payments), which directly led Mastercard to abandon its previously pursued strategic investment plan in Zerohash (a privately held company). According to CoinDesk on May 19, Mastercard exited negotiations with Zerohash after the completion of the BVNK acquisition, and Zerohash is currently seeking to initiate a new financing round with a valuation of over $1.5 billion (higher than the $1 billion valuation established during the D-2 round of financing of $104 million in September 2025); the strategic logic behind Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK is that BVNK has a stablecoin payment infrastructure covering over 130 countries and a difficult-to-replicate combination of multi-country payment licenses; Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert stated that the goal is to integrate stablecoins into the core network of Mastercard Move cross-border payments, rather than treating them as a peripheral experiment.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: $JPM) analysts cited by CoinDesk on May 19 released the latest research report indicating that in the current market environment, Ethereum and the broader altcoin sector will continue to lag behind Bitcoin, primarily due to three structural weaknesses: weak network activity, stagnation in DeFi ecosystem growth (Solana's TVL has dropped from a peak of $13.1 billion in 2025 to about $5.5 billion), and limited real-world adoption scenarios; analysts believe that for the altcoin sector to catch up with Bitcoin's performance, a "significant network activity explosion" is a prerequisite, and this condition currently lacks visible short-term catalysts.

-- Price

Morgan Stanley's chief equity strategist Wilson pointed out that the momentum in the semiconductor sector is waning, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index having dropped nearly 14% from its peak. Funds are shifting towards AI supercomputing giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, as well as sec...

Morning Report | Vitalik outlines Ethereum's long-term roadmap, Lean Ethereum will become the third major iteration; SK Hynix seeks to attract more AI investors by listing in the U.S

July 5 Market Important Events Overview

Trump, the best stock trader among U.S. presidents

Trump has almost turned the presidency into a business and maximized the conversion of presidential influence into commercial profits.

From ByteDance to Financial Freedom: How did "Byte Brother" Leto develop his investment judgment skills to achieve a turnaround of 30 million?

Speak with data and signals, validate judgments with A/B tests, and seek asymmetric returns with limited risk exposure.

Selling coins despite a loss of 55 million dollars, the faith in Strategy has reached the interest payment date

The moment faith was securitized, Bitcoin became a bill.

OUSD False Cooperation Controversy? The Credit Game of Stablecoins and Endorsements by Giants

The success of stablecoins does not rely on rallying a group of alliance members for marketing, but rather on whether they have real use cases and genuine users.

Q-Day Countdown: Will Quantum Computing End Cryptocurrency?

In the face of dormant coins being plundered by quantum computing power, should we firmly uphold the unalterable bottom line of "code is law," or should we enforce a soft fork to freeze legacy assets?

The ten years of Cloud on the Air: From corner coffee to global financial infrastructure

How did a remittance company grow into a financial infrastructure that can replace SWIFT; when it really reaches this scale, how should stablecoins be positioned for it; and what can AI integrate into this infrastructure?

$10,000 in TRUMP Token vs. $10,000 in Nasdaq: The "Trump Trade" That Actually Worked in 2026

TRUMP Token lost more than 96% after its launch, while Nasdaq stocks and NVIDIA delivered strong gains. Compare what happened to a $10,000 investment and explore why asset fundamentals matter more than market hype.

The impact of OUSD on Circle, Tether, and Paxos: not a single negative factor, but a more complex reshaping of competition

OUSD will not be the last new competitor; Circle needs to respond more actively in terms of products, distribution, and ecosystem collaboration.

Li Feifei's latest long article: When video generation, robots, and NVIDIA all claim to be world models, we need a taxonomy

Language gives machines a way to talk about the world. The world model is the means by which machines ultimately understand, imagine, reason, and interact with it.

Blaming the desolation of the cryptocurrency world on the rise of AI is a form of intellectual laziness

The emergence of giants signifies a mature business model. Although it will reduce speculative space, there is also enough room for error, allowing for the continuous emergence of new forces.

How has Binance's stock business performed in the 30 days since its launch?

Emerging market buying supported the first wave of demand.

WEEX P2P now supports BDT & LKR—Merchant Recruitment Now Open

Morning News | SK Hynix officially launches the marketing promotion process for its U.S. stock listing; the Central Cyberspace Administration announces the results of the first phase of rectifying AI application chaos, with over 14,000 non-compliant pr...

July 6 Market Important Events Overview

Can Open USD support Stripe's ambitions?

Blockchain Capital Partner: AI is rewriting the fundamental unit of labor

The cryptocurrency industry has become a traditional industry

For entrepreneurs and retail investors still in this industry, they should either embrace the current changes or explore the next unpredictable field in cryptocurrency.