Visa Denies Report of $2.5 Billion Fireblocks Acquisition

Visa Reportedly in Late-Stage Talks to Acquire Fireblocks for $2.5 Billion

Visa, the world’s largest payment card network, is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations to acquire cryptocurrency custodian giant Fireblocks for approximately $2.5 billion. However, Fireblocks swiftly denied the reports on Thursday, stating they are “not true at this time.” The reported acquisition price represents a significant discount, about 30%, from Fireblocks’ valuation of over $8 billion in 2022. If the deal materializes, it would mark the second-largest acquisition in cryptocurrency history and Visa’s first major move into the stablecoin sector.

Denial and Speculation Amidst Valuation Gap

Visa is reportedly in talks to acquire Fireblocks, a company specializing in crypto asset custody and stablecoin infrastructure, for around $2.5 billion. However, Fireblocks issued a denial within hours of the news breaking. A company spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Thursday, “We are aware of the rumors regarding a potential acquisition of Fireblocks by Visa. This is new information to us and is not true at this time.” Visa declined to comment, stating only that it does not respond to “rumors or speculation.” Axios, the outlet that initially reported the story, cited multiple sources on Thursday, indicating that the parties were in the late stages of acquisition talks, with no formal transaction announcement yet.

The significant market attention surrounding this news stems from the substantial valuation gap. Fireblocks’ most recent public valuation, announced during its $550 million Series E funding round in January 2022, exceeded $8 billion. At the time, the company self-proclaimed in an official press release to be the highest-valued digital asset infrastructure provider. Data provider Tracxn continued to use the $8 billion figure as of December 2025. Consequently, the rumored $2.5 billion acquisition price is only about 31% of its last valuation, a steep discount. For a private company without a public stock price, such a discrepancy typically suggests either that negotiations are ongoing and the price is not yet finalized, or that the buyer believes the market’s current pricing for crypto infrastructure needs recalibration.

Fireblocks: Infrastructure for Digital Assets

Founded in 2018 by Michael Shaulov, Pavel Berengoltz, and Idan Ofrat, all seasoned figures in Israel’s cybersecurity industry, Fireblocks offers institutional-grade infrastructure for storing and moving digital assets. Rather than selling products, the company provides the “pipes” that banks, exchanges, and payment companies use. Its client roster includes BNY Mellon, Worldpay, Revolut, and Galaxy, and the company states it has secured asset transfers across over 150 chains, totaling trillions of dollars. Fireblocks also serves as the technology provider behind FIS’s institutional Bitcoin trading and BNP Paribas’s digital asset custody, and is a founding member of the Bitcoin sidechain project Botanix Alliance.

Expanding into Stablecoin Payments

In the stablecoin arena, Fireblocks launched its own stablecoin payment network in September 2025, with over 40 initial participants including Circle, Bridge, Zerohash, and Yellow Card. This year, the company introduced acceptance tools for neobanks and a settlement suite tailored for AI agents. This product line is precisely what card networks are seeking: enabling stablecoins to integrate with existing card and payment infrastructure rather than requiring the creation of entirely new systems.

Broader Industry Trend of Acquisitions

This rumor emerges against a backdrop of traditional payment industries opting for acquisitions rather than in-house development to bolster their stablecoin and crypto infrastructure capabilities. Mastercard announced in March of this year its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, finalizing the deal in August after its acquisition talks with Zerohash fell through. During this period, Mastercard also secured a New York State BitLicense.

Visa has also been increasing its involvement. In August, it partnered with Zerohash to integrate stablecoin deposit and withdrawal functionalities into Visa Direct. In September, the company reported that its stablecoin settlement volume had surpassed an annualized run rate of $20 billion, a fifteenfold increase from the previous year. Both card networks have joined the Open USD stablecoin alliance, which comprises over 140 companies.

Potential Impact and Key Considerations

If the $2.5 billion deal were to close, it would become the second-largest acquisition in cryptocurrency history, following Coinbase’s $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit in 2025 and Naver Financial’s all-stock acquisition of Upbit’s parent company Dunamu for approximately $10.3 billion. For Visa, this would also represent its inaugural acquisition in the stablecoin space, marking a direct leap from partnership to acquiring an entire operational pipeline.

Currently, the statements from the parties involved are diametrically opposed: Axios claims negotiations are in the final stages, Fireblocks states the information is new and not currently true, and Visa has offered no comment. Without a formal announcement, this remains an unconfirmed rumor, but three key details warrant attention.

First, the valuation gap between $2.5 billion and $8 billion indicates a significant divergence in opinion on the current worth of crypto infrastructure if negotiations are indeed underway. Such discussions are typically not resolved in a matter of days.

Second, with Mastercard acquiring BVNK just six months ago, a potential Visa acquisition would escalate the competition among card networks in the stablecoin infrastructure space from the settlement layer directly to the custody layer, significantly intensifying the rivalry.

Third, Fireblocks has a prior incident on its record. Last year, the company was sued by staking platform StakeHound for allegedly mistakenly deleting customer private keys, resulting in a loss of $71 million worth of ETH. If the company were to be acquired by a publicly traded entity, its cybersecurity record and compliance review would be critical aspects of the negotiation process.