Stripe, Advent Bid Over $53 Billion For PayPal; DTCC Tokenizes Stocks

Stripe and Advent Eye PayPal Acquisition

Stripe, in partnership with private equity firm Advent International, has submitted an offer exceeding $53 billion to acquire PayPal. The proposed deal, valued at $60.50 per share, represents a 28% premium over PayPal's closing price on July 14, 2026 Source. This bid, backed by approximately $50 billion in committed financing, would see Stripe and Advent jointly own PayPal, opting to keep the company intact rather than breaking it up.

CNBC reports that Stripe, Advent, and Block are contributing $17 billion in equity towards the acquisition. PayPal's board is expected to review the offer around July 20th.

This development comes as PayPal faces slower growth compared to its peak valuation of $360 billion in July 2021. For context, PayPal's transaction volume of $1.79 trillion in 2025 grew by a modest 7% year-over-year, while Stripe achieved $1.9 trillion in 2025 volume, growing at 34% annually Source.

Implications for the Payments Landscape

Should the acquisition proceed, the combined entity would become the largest Payment Service Provider (PSP) in the USA, accounting for nearly $3.7 trillion in Total Payment Volume (TPV). This would surpass current incumbents like Chase, which processed an estimated $2.8 trillion in payments in 2025. While Stripe possesses robust infrastructure, PayPal offers a significant consumer brand presence with 439 million active accounts across PayPal and Venmo Source.

A critical asset in this potential merger is Braintree processing. Currently, PayPal outsources its processing to Fiserv and Global Payments. Stripe could insource this function, potentially realizing substantial benefits. This acquisition, if successful, would rank among the largest leveraged buyouts in history, exceeding Twitter’s $44 billion acquisition in 2022. The deal's structure, relying heavily on debt, raises questions about balancing debt servicing with long-term investment in PayPal's platform.

DTCC Unveils Tokenized Stocks and Treasuries

In a separate significant development, nearly 40 financial institutions, including BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and the NYSE, have live-traded tokenized stocks and US Treasuries through the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). JPMorgan successfully tokenized shares of the QQQ ETF and then reversed the process, demonstrating the viability of on-chain asset management in a production environment Source. Vanguard and Invesco also participated in these trials.

The DTCC, which custodies $114 trillion in US securities and processed $4.7 quadrillion in transactions last year, is undergoing its most significant plumbing change since the 1970s. The initial basket of tokenized assets included Microsoft shares, Circle stock, QQQ, SPY, SGOV, and various US Treasuries. These trades were settled on Hyperledger Besu and Canton, operating under a three-year SEC no-action letter, with a full rollout anticipated in October.

What Tokenization Means for Businesses

This move by the DTCC means that virtually every US stock and government bond will become a token. These tokens will be fully redeemable for the original ownership obligation at the DTCC, allowing for 24/7 global trading and potentially opening new markets and functionalities for businesses handling these asset classes. This represents a fundamental shift in how financial assets are held and transferred.

There are generally three types of tokenized securities: wrappers (tracking an underlying asset), digital twins (mirroring a real share where a transfer agent maintains the legal register, as the DTCC is doing), and natively issued securities (where the on-chain record is the security itself). The DTCC's digital twin model is particularly impactful because the DTCC itself is the official record keeper, ensuring that dividends, votes, and legal ownership are intrinsically linked to the tokenized asset.