Fireblocks Denies Visa Acquisition Talks for Approximately $2.5 Billion
Cryptocurrency custody and stablecoin infrastructure company Fireblocks has denied Axios's earlier report that Visa is in advanced talks to acquire the company for approximately $2.5 billion, stating that this news is currently not true for us.
Visa has stated that it does not comment on rumors or speculation.
Previously, it was reported that Visa was negotiating with cryptocurrency asset custody infrastructure company Fireblocks for an acquisition deal valued at around $2.5 billion, which, if completed, would further expand Visa's presence in the digital asset custody and blockchain payment infrastructure sector.
AI infrastructure startup Fireworks AI is in early talks for a new round of financing, with a target valuation of approximately $30 billion to $40 billion, a significant increase from the $17.5 billion valuation in July during its Series D round.
Sources indicate that negotiations are still in the early stages and the valuation target may change; Fireworks declined to comment on this.
Fireworks AI was founded in 2022 by individuals from the AI teams at Meta and Google. CEO Lin Qiao previously led the Meta PyTorch team. The company focuses on computing power and software leasing for enterprises to fine-tune and deploy open-source weights and custom models. In July, when announcing the completion of a $1.5 billion Series D round, it stated that its annual revenue had exceeded $1 billion, processing over 40 trillion tokens daily, with about 95% coming from custom models tailored to client needs.
As financing talks are underway, the company recently disclosed a security incident involving unauthorized access to some customer account data.
The denial of the acquisition rumors has prompted a reassessment of capital related to Visa and Fireblocks, benefiting the custody infrastructure party due to the confirmation of independent operations, while the expectations driven by rumors regarding the transaction are under pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Fireblocks has previously focused on cryptocurrency custody and stablecoin infrastructure, discussing collaborations with payment institutions but not publicly pursuing large acquisitions, forming a path supported by independent technology services for institutional entry, including ongoing investments in compliant custody.
This public denial of Axios's report about Visa's advanced talks for approximately $2.5 billion, along with Visa's non-comment, aims to clarify the transaction status and avoid market misinterpretations regarding expansion plans.
Similar cases include other custody companies immediately denying acquisition rumors, as well as AI infrastructure companies like Fireworks disclosing security incidents alongside valuation increases; currently, the digital asset custody sector is transitioning from rumor-driven consolidation to confirmation of independent operations.
Essentially, this reflects a correction of capital concentration expectations, shifting funds from potential acquisition premiums to independent custody and AI computing power leasing, with the mechanism being that the denial reduces transaction certainty and leads to repricing, shifting pricing power from rumored valuations to disclosed revenues and the impact of security incidents.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Denial corrects acquisition expectations
Valuation increase accompanies security incidents
Independent operations take precedence over rumored consolidation