2026-04-19 Воскресенье

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The Payment Empire PayPal Might Be Bought Out

The once-dominant global payment giant PayPal is reportedly facing a potential acquisition, as its market value plummeted from a pandemic peak of $363 billion to a recent low of $38 billion—a nearly 90% drop over five years. Despite its pioneering role in enabling cross-border e-commerce, particularly for Chinese exporters in the mid-2000s, PayPal has struggled to keep pace with newer, more agile competitors like Stripe, Apple Pay, and various neobanks. Recent financial performance has been weak, with active user growth slowing to just 1% and transaction volume declining. The abrupt departure of its CEO and appointment of a new leader from HP—known for cost-cutting rather than product innovation—has fueled market skepticism. Critics, including former executive David Marcus, argue that PayPal lost its "mojo" by shifting from a product-driven to a finance-oriented culture, sacrificing long-term vision for short-term financial optimization. While subsidiary Venmo shows strong revenue growth and has become a verb among U.S. millennials, it faces challenges: user growth is stagnant, it remains confined to the U.S., and it lacks deeper integration like Stripe or the hardware-level ease of Apple Pay. PayPal’s bets on stablecoins (PYUSD) and AI-driven agentic payments are still unproven in highly competitive fields. Despite valuable assets—including Braintree’s infrastructure, a leading BNPL service, and 400 million active accounts—PayPal’s future as an independent company is uncertain. Market confidence now seems higher in a potential acquisition than in its standalone prospects, marking a dramatic fall for a former fintech disruptor.

marsbit02/24 11:44

The Payment Empire PayPal Might Be Bought Out

marsbit02/24 11:44

BlackRock and Citadel Are Aggressively 'Sweeping Goods': What Fundamental Changes Have Occurred in the Logic of TradFi Entering DeFi?

Traditional finance (TradFi) giants like BlackRock, Citadel Securities, and Apollo Global Management are now directly purchasing DeFi governance tokens (UNI, ZRO, MORPHO), signaling a strategic shift beyond mere equity investments or pilot programs. This move is primarily about securing access to and aligning with the infrastructure they plan to use for tokenizing and distributing their products on-chain, rather than making broad portfolio bets on DeFi assets. Key drivers include improved custody/operational infrastructure and greater regulatory clarity, such as the upcoming repeal of SAB 121 and potential market structure legislation like the CLARITY Act. While this represents a structural change in institutional engagement, the token price impact has been muted due to weak market conditions and a lack of direct value capture mechanisms for most tokens. For governance tokens to function more like strategic equity, clearer value accrual (e.g., fee switches), reduced VC selling pressure, and enhanced regulatory certainty are needed. Concerns about governance centralisation exist, but increased professional participation could improve oversight. More TradFi firms, particularly those building tokenized products (e.g., Fidelity, Franklin Templeton), are expected to follow, focusing on blue-chip protocols in stablecoins, RWAs, and trading infrastructure.

marsbit02/24 10:45

BlackRock and Citadel Are Aggressively 'Sweeping Goods': What Fundamental Changes Have Occurred in the Logic of TradFi Entering DeFi?

marsbit02/24 10:45

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