Stripe and Advent International Make $53B+ Bid for PayPal, Eyeing Bridge and PYUSD Under One Roof

Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International have submitted an unsolicited joint proposal to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, valuing the payments company at more than $53 billion, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Financial Times and CNBC also confirmed the approach. If completed, the deal would consolidate two of the payments industry's most visible crypto and stablecoin initiatives. Stripe's crypto stack is anchored by Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm it bought for $1.1 billion, while PayPal has built PYUSD and a consumer crypto trading offering into its broader payments platform. The offer implies roughly a 28% premium to PayPal's July 14 close of $47.37, Reuters said. The bid is supported by about $50 billion in committed bank financing. CNBC reported that Stripe, Advent, and Block are providing about $17 billion in equity. Stripe and Advent would hold equal stakes and would jointly own PayPal rather than pursue a breakup. PayPal shares rose about 16% in premarket trading Wednesday. Crypto assets are central to the strategic logic. PayPal's PYUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued through Paxos, had about $2.83 billion in circulation as of Wednesday, according to DefiLlama. PayPal also offers Bitcoin and other crypto trading to its account holders. Stripe has expanded in crypto through multiple moves, including acquiring wallet startup Privy for an undisclosed amount and launching Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain, with crypto venture firm Paradigm. Bridge's stablecoin-linked cards have expanded to more than 100 countries with Visa. Supporters of the transaction argue a combined entity would bring issuance, distribution, and settlement of stablecoin-based payments under a single owner, potentially reaching hundreds of millions of consumers and merchants. The consolidation would also concentrate a sizable share of regulated, brand-name stablecoin activity at a time when banks and fintechs are accelerating their own token launches. "This offer signals that mainstream payments infrastructure is converging around crypto rails in a bigger way than ever," Stefan Deiss, cofounder and chief executive of The Hashgraph Group, said in emailed comments. He added that a combined Stripe–PayPal platform could give more than 400 million consumers streamlined access to Bitcoin via PayPal's Paxos integration and stablecoin infrastructure via Stripe's Bridge acquisition. Still, Deiss cautioned the two firms' crypto strategies are built on different models. "Stripe's stablecoin-first approach via Bridge and PayPal's multi-coin model with Bitcoin represent fundamentally different technology stacks," he said, arguing that operating at scale would require enterprise-grade distributed ledger infrastructure with robust compliance, auditability, and institutional-grade settlement assurances. Stripe was valued at about $159 billion in a February employee tender offer. PayPal expanded PYUSD to 70 markets in March and allows users to buy, hold, send, and earn rewards on the token within their accounts. PYUSD remains far smaller than the largest dollar stablecoins: Tether's USDT at about $184 billion and Circle's USDC at roughly $73 billion, based on DefiLlama data. The proposal is not yet a deal. PayPal has not responded publicly, and Reuters said the companies submitted the offer earlier this month after an initial approach in early April. As an unsolicited bid, there is no assurance PayPal's board will accept or that a transaction will close. Some shareholders may also view $60.50 per share as unattractive relative to PayPal's roughly $360 billion valuation peak in 2021. Regulatory review could be another major obstacle. Deiss said antitrust scrutiny is likely given the combined market share, while stablecoin regulation could influence how PYUSD and Bridge would operate under unified ownership. CNBC reported PayPal's board is expected to meet as soon as July 20 to discuss the offer, and the parties are aiming to move discussions forward in the coming weeks.