Investing in BVNK to support expansion of the 24/7 digital money landscape

Stablecoins are fast becoming the infrastructure layer for a new era of financial services, powering everything from cross-border payments to checkout and e-commerce.

At their core, stablecoins bridge the gap between blockchain systems (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi). Most trading on crypto exchanges is done with stablecoins (The Block) that are pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by dollar reserves (World Economic Forum). Demand for stablecoins continues to grow in 2025, with the current stablecoin market cap sitting at $266 billion, up 30% from the start of the year (DeFi Llama). That figure is projected to grow to $400 billion during 2025 (Bitwise).

The regulatory environment around stablecoins has evolved rapidly, as overall interest from governments, financial institutions and consumers has grown.

That is why Citi Ventures is excited about our investment in BVNK, which has built infrastructure that enables businesses to send, receive, exchange and store stablecoins and fiat funds across domestic and international payment rails and blockchains.

A growing stablecoin market

Stablecoins now account for more than 80% (The Block) of trading volume on major centralized crypto exchanges, with 99% of stablecoin market cap in U.S. dollars (Federal Reserve Board of Governors), illustrating investors’ desire to access that currency. Payment volumes (discounting high-frequency trading and intra-institutional activity) in particular are reaching an inflection point, with estimated volumes growing by 56% in 2024 and 60% in 2025 (Visa) based on year-to-date figures.

The recent bipartisan passage of the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal stablecoin legislation in the United States, was a major milestone for stablecoins. The legislation requires stablecoin issuers to maintain reserves on a 1-to-1 basis with outstanding stablecoins, and that 100% of the reserves be backed by liquid assets like U.S. dollars or short-term Treasuries. Issuers must also provide disclosures about the reserves on a monthly basis. U.S. regulators must now begin the process of drafting regulations to implement the GENIUS Act, which will provide more details about the features and restrictions of stablecoins issued in the U.S.

This new legislation will help financial institutions navigate the variety of stablecoin opportunities in front of them. To stay ahead, companies will need to partner with infrastructure providers that combine technical depth, regulatory fluency, and embedded relationships across the stablecoin ecosystem.

BVNK’s roadmap and products

BVNK has been developing the back-end infrastructure to help customers accelerate global payments using stablecoins since 2021, making them well-versed in the complex environment facing both financial institutions and consumers. BVNK enables enterprises to integrate stablecoins into their products and operations, keeping security and compliance top of mind.

BVNK’s payments platform allows merchants and retailers to accept payments in the leading digital currencies, including stablecoins. BVNK’s platform facilitates billions of transactions every year and is growing rapidly thanks to strategic partnerships with Visa, LianLian Global, dLocal and Worldpay.

As a leading full-stack solution in the stablecoin space today, BVNK provides customers with flexibility, support and risk mitigation. Through its global licensing network, BVNK supports businesses at every stage of their stablecoin journey, from managed payments to self-managed, direct to embedded. BVNK’s offerings also include:

• Embedded wallets: Companies can use BVNK’s API to directly integrate stablecoin-powered financial services into their apps and platforms. This feature lets companies maintain the look and feel of their existing product while enabling stablecoin features like wallet creation, deposits, withdrawals and transfers.
• Payments management: BVNK’s virtual accounts let customers send and receive payments in stablecoins through networks like Swift, ACH and Fedwire. The virtual accounts also help customers move from fiat to cryptocurrencies, and back.
• Compliance: BVNK’s proprietary machine learning models and tools aim to prevent and detect financial crimes and all of BVNK’s product offerings incorporate layers for adhering to AML and KYC regulations. Customers can partner directly with BVNK’s financial intelligence team to investigate possible issues.

BVNK's robust infrastructure and products have allowed it to handle the increasing volume of digital asset transactions, positioning it to capitalize on the anticipated growth in the stablecoin market.

Experienced founders and next steps

BVNK was founded by three South-African entrepreneurs: Jesse Hemson-Struthers, Donald Jackson and Chris Harmse. All three founders previously launched CoinDirect, a consumer-facing crypto exchange. Jesse Hemson-Struthers, BVNK's CEO, has built and sold several businesses.

The team has emphasized its commitment to security, compliance and performance, as well as demonstrated its ability to partner with leading players across the stablecoin ecosystem. Citi Ventures is pleased to be investing in BVNK at this moment of rapid modernization in the financial services industry.