Monoup News Digest: Main Updates from Fintech Industry
Monoup Friday digest is back, and today we’re diving into the week’s biggest stories. The high-stakes drama around a potential PayPal acquisition has taken an unexpected turn: while Stripe and Advent’s buyout offer was rejected, it wasn’t a hard "no" — it came down strictly to price. PayPal remains open to a sale, but management wants a better deal for shareholders, all while holding out hope that their new CEO can turn profits around. We break down the details below.
Meanwhile, Visa is continuing its steady wave of layoffs, this time cutting more than 2,000 product and tech roles. The plan? Streamline operations through AI and eliminate redundant or oversized teams — a move that signals broader shifts across the industry.
Let’s break it all down.
PayPal Open to Sale — at the Right Price
On July 15, Stripe and private equity firm Advent International submitted a formal takeover bid for PayPal at $60.50 per share, valuing the payments giant at roughly $53.4 billion. The pair had already lined up about $50 billion in financing from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, planning an equal 50/50 ownership split without carving up the company.
However, on July 20, PayPal’s board formally rejected the offer. Far from closing the door, they signaled that talks could resume closer to the $70-per-share mark. The drive behind the deal isn't just PayPal's vast user base — 439 million active accounts, including 67 million on Venmo — which gives direct consumer reach that Stripe’s Link wallet simply can't match at scale.
According to analysts, the real strategic catalyst is stablecoins. Stripe possesses the issuance and settlement infrastructure via Bridge, while PayPal offers a ready-made global distribution network for PYUSD, which is already active in 70 countries. Combining the two would effectively complete the full tech stack.
The deal is far from dead. On July 28, PayPal reported stronger-than-expected Q2 earnings (revenue hit $8.68 billion vs. $8.47 billion expected, with free cash flow surging 175% to $1.8 billion). This strengthens PayPal’s negotiating position and backs up its argument that the initial bid undervalued the business. Most analysts expect both parties to return to the bargaining table with a revised, higher offer. If finalized, merging two entities with a combined annual payment volume of $3.7 trillion would mark the largest takeover in fintech history.
The EU Targets Russia's Crypto Perimeter
The Council of the EU has adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia — its largest in four years, targeting 218 new entities and individuals (48 people and 170 companies). For the first time, restrictions extend beyond Russian entities to third-country crypto platforms, including Rapira, Aifory, ABCeX, WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto, Tradex, Monease, BitPapa, Exnode, HTX, and EXMO across Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. Transactions with these platforms will be banned starting August 23.
In addition, four foreign banks were sanctioned — Kyrgyzstan’s CJSC Eco-Islamic Bank, Mongolia’s Chinggis Khaan Bank, and the Indian branches of Sberbank and VTB — with operations set to cease earlier, on August 13.
The most notable target is HTX (formerly Huobi), controlled by Justin Sun. The designation stems from a Global Ledger investigation that flagged roughly $21 billion in high-risk crypto flows through HTX between 2021 and 2026, with about $7.6 billion linked to Russian entities, including Garantex and its successor, Grinex. The EU sanctions follow the UK’s decision in May to blacklist HTX and 17 associated A7-network entities, marking the exchange's second regulatory hit in three months. HTX denies the allegations, maintaining that the entity named in the sanctions list is distinct from its public retail exchange platform.
Is Nubank Finally a Real Bank?
Latin American fintech powerhouse Nubank is acquiring Banco Porto Real de Investimentos, a small Brazilian investment bank, securing a full banking license in its home market.
Interestingly, despite its name, Nubank had operated strictly as a payment institution since its founding in 2013. The catalyst for the shift is new Brazilian regulations prohibiting entities from using "bank" in their branding without holding a full banking status. Unwilling to abandon its iconic brand, Nubank opted to buy a licensed entity rather than go through a lengthy ground-up application process.
This move reflects a broader global push: earlier this year, Nu secured a banking charter in Mexico and received preliminary approval in the US. The group now serves over 130 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
Visa Cuts Another 2,600 Jobs
The wave of layoffs at Visa shows no signs of slowing — if anything, it’s accelerating. Employees in product and technology divisions received a memo from CEO Ryan McInerney stating that the company intends to seize the moment and do what is "right for Visa" — namely, cutting roughly 7% of its workforce (around 2,600 out of 34,100 employees) while doubling down on AI integration.
This marks the second major wave of cuts in under a year, following a layoff of 1,400 employees in October 2024. Management plans to reallocate saved capital toward core strategic priorities: high-net-worth clients, cross-border payments, stablecoins, and B2B services. The move mirrors broader sector trends, with Mastercard having previously announced a 4% staff reduction, Block cutting nearly half its workforce, and PayPal signaling its own workforce adjustments.
In the first half of 2026 alone, US companies announced over 440,000 job cuts, with AI cited as the primary driver.
That wraps up this week’s breakdown from the Monoup team. Stay connected with us on Telegram and check out our website for weekly in-depth analyses, market updates, and expert commentary. See you next week!
