Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Stripe is reportedly exploring buying all or part of legacy fintech PayPal.
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Shares of PayPal are down nearly 40% over the past year.
Stripe is Interested in Acquiring PayPal
Stripe, the payment processor that has increasingly leaned into crypto, is exploring the possibility of acquiring all or part of PayPal.
In a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, Stripe has expressed preliminary interest in a potential acquisition of the digital payments pioneer or its assets, citing sources close to the matter.
Stripe added that it has signed agreements with investors to provide liquidity to current and former Stripe employees through a tender offer at a $159 billion valuation.
Investors include Thrive Capital, Coatue, and a16z. They will provide the majority of funds for the tender offer. The company would also use some of its own capital to repurchase shares.
PayPal is considered a pioneer in facilitating financial transactions online and in normalizing digital wallets. However, the company has struggled in recent years as it tried to remain relevant amid the digital asset boom. PayPal’s stock price has fallen by 40% over the last year.
Stripe and PayPal have been making moves in the cryptocurrency space. PayPal already has its PYUSD stablecoin, while Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge last year, which received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to later become a federally chartered national bank.
In December, Paxos received a federal banking charter from the OCC. At the time, Paxos said "PYUSD is now officially the largest dollar stablecoin issued under federal regulatory oversight," with a market capitalization of $3.8 billion.
In July 2025, PayPal launched Pay with Crypto, a new feature that allows U.S. merchants to accept over 100 cryptocurrencies.
In September, the fintech giant also added crypto to its P2P payment system, allowing U.S. users to send cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether across PayPal, Venmo, and other crypto-compatible wallets. It also unveiled plans to expand support to bitcoin, ETH, and stablecoin transactions.
