Stripe has held early discussions about acquiring all or part of PayPal Holdings, according to a Bloomberg report published Tuesday. The talks remain preliminary and no agreement has been reached.
The report surfaced the same day Stripe disclosed a $159 billion valuation through a tender offer to current and former employees. The valuation reflects a 74% increase from last year. Stripe also reported $1.9 trillion in annual payment volume and confirmed that Bridge, its stablecoin subsidiary, secured conditional approval for a U.S. national bank trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Feb. 17.
PayPal faces market pressure and leadership change
PayPal has struggled to maintain growth as mobile wallets from Apple and Google gained deeper integration on smartphones. Both Apple Pay and Google Pay come pre-installed on most devices, which has shifted everyday payment flows toward embedded wallet systems.
Stripe president John Collison addressed PayPal’s position in comments to Bloomberg.
“PayPal has had, obviously, a tough time over the past few years, and the landscape has changed quite a bit with Apple Pay and Google Pay and everything like that.” He added: “I can’t talk about any, you know, M&A hypotheticals, but they’ve definitely had a tough time.”
PayPal stock rose 6.74% on Tuesday to close at $47.02, according to Google Finance data. Despite the one-day gain, shares have fallen almost 20% since the start of the year and remain about 85% below their 2021 peak above $300.
The company is also preparing for a leadership change. Enrique Lores will assume the role of CEO on March 1 following the ouster of Alex Chriss. The transition follows missed earnings estimates and slower payment volume growth.
Public shareholders have pressed the company over performance and competition. A takeover by a privately held firm such as Stripe would remove quarterly earnings pressure and shift oversight away from public markets.
Stablecoin strategies converge
Both companies have expanded into digital assets and stablecoins, though through different models.
PayPal began offering crypto trading in the United States in 2020 and launched its dollar-pegged stablecoin PYUSD in 2023. On Feb. 14, PYUSD’s market capitalization surpassed $4 billion for the first time.
Stripe entered stablecoin infrastructure through Bridge and introduced stablecoin-based accounts globally in May 2025. Bridge received conditional approval to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank under the OCC on Feb. 17, as HodlFM reported earlier.
Stripe has supported stablecoin transactions for merchants and integrated digital asset on-ramps into its payments stack. The firm is also developing Tempo, a purpose-built blockchain designed to enable stablecoin settlement and programmable payments within its core infrastructure.
Ryan Yoon, senior analyst at Tiger Research, described the potential transaction in comments.
“Structurally, this is a vertical integration of legacy infrastructure and modern API stacks,” he said. He added that the deal offers PayPal “an exit from public market scrutiny and Big Tech competition, while giving Stripe immediate access to massive enterprise liquidity.”
Yoon also noted technical constraints. He cautioned about the costs of “integrating two different technical debts.”
Regulatory clarity shapes the backdrop
The stablecoin environment in the United States has shifted over the past year. In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its probe into PYUSD without enforcement action. By July, the GENIUS Act was signed into law, which provided a clearer federal framework for parts of the sector. Stripe’s founders have referred to the period as a “stablecoin summer.”
The reported talks between Stripe and PayPal take place within that regulatory context. Each firm has built separate on-ramps, wallets, and settlement rails. A combination would place merchant acquiring, consumer wallets, and regulated stablecoin issuance under a single corporate structure.
No formal offer has been announced and there is no guarantee that discussions will lead to a transaction. Talks remain exploratory.
If negotiations advance, the deal would rank among the largest fintech transactions in recent years based on Stripe’s disclosed valuation. For now, both companies continue to operate independently while stablecoin volumes and digital settlement tools gain ground in mainstream payments.
Matvii Diadkov
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