Fintech and banking institutions are executing major acquisitions and expansion plans. Circle is buying Tazapay for $400 million, while Chime acquires Stride Bank for $590 million and WaFd merges with EverBank in a $3.9 billion deal. Additionally, Revolut secured conditional approval for a US national bank charter.
01Company specific
Circle to acquire cross-border payments firm Tazapay for $400 million
Buying existing local banking rails converts Circle from a pure stablecoin issuer into an end-to-end global payout network, bypassing individual country licensing bottlenecks.
Circle agreed to acquire Singapore-based cross-border payments company Tazapay for $400 million in an all-stock transaction. The issuer will pay in Class A common stock, with the share count calculated using the volume-weighted average closing price over the 20 trading days before the deal closes. Tazapay processes more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume across more than 100 markets, with stablecoins accounting for roughly 60% of that total volume. The purchase provides Circle with established last-mile infrastructure and local payout rails that would otherwise take years to build country by country. Tazapay maintains more than 60 banking and fintech partnerships and holds licenses or registrations in Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the United States. Circle Ventures previously invested in Tazapay, and the company has served as a design partner for the Circle Payments Network since 2025. The transaction requires regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is expected to close in 2027.
Tazapay Annualized Payment Volume ($B)
Tazapay's annualized payment volume more than doubled from 2025 to 2026
Revolut Secures US Banking Charter With Limits on Four Products
Product-by-product OCC gating obligates Revolut to absorb national bank capital rules before it can deploy the high-margin foreign exchange and acquiring lines central to its monetization.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted conditional preliminary approval for Revolut Bank US to establish a national bank headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The decision provides the London-headquartered fintech with a pathway to replace its existing partner bank arrangement with direct deposit-taking capabilities. Under the terms of the conditional approval, Revolut must raise $95 million in organizational , maintain a tier one ratio of at least ten percent through its first three years of operation, and secure final sign-offs from both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the . The OCC withheld authorization for four specific services, including retail , FX forward contracts, merchant acquiring, and foreign correspondent banking, requiring separate supervisory review before those offerings can launch. Revolut plans to invest around $95 million and employ approximately 160 people as it targets a 2027 opening.
Vertical integration by a neobank eliminates partner-bank fee drag and regulatory reliance, transforming a pure-play software distribution model into a direct balance-sheet lender.
Chime is acquiring its longtime banking partner Stride Bank for $590 million in cash. The deal brings key infrastructure in-house to let the neobank build products faster, shed partner fees, and expand its lending business. Stride will become a wholly owned subsidiary named Chime Bank upon completion. Chime expects the transaction to close in the first half of 2027, pending approvals from the and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Morgan Stanley is advising Chime on the transaction, while Piper Sandler & Co is advising Stride.
Consolidating Huntington's revenue units under Standridge cleanly separates daily commercial execution from Steinour's strategy, reducing operational friction during an extended executive transition.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. has appointed Brant Standridge as president of the company and its subsidiary, The Huntington National Bank. The promotion follows a multiyear succession planning process and places Standridge in charge of all -generating businesses at the $284 billion- lender. Steve Steinour will remain chairman and CEO for several more years to focus on strategy and execution after holding the president title himself. Standridge joined Huntington in April 2022 as president of consumer and business banking from Truist. In his expanded role, he continues to lead the bank growth council and maintain oversight of prior integration efforts.
Combining EverBank's digital deposit platform with WaFd's commercial footprint dilutes legacy residential mortgage concentration through a reverse merger that hands majority control to the deposit-gathering partner.
WaFd will acquire EverBank in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.9 billion, creating a regional bank with $75 billion in . Under the terms of the reverse announced Monday, WaFd will issue approximately 103 million shares to fund the purchase, leaving EverBank shareholders with a 59.2% ownership stake in the combined entity. The resulting institution will operate with $59 billion in and $58 billion in loans across a 254-branch network. WaFd CEO Beardall will serve as president of the combined company, while EverBank CEO Greg Seibly will take over as chief executive. The transaction pairs EverBank's digital deposit-gathering platform with WaFd's commercial banking footprint while addressing WaFd's heavy exposure to legacy residential . The combined bank projects 2027 of $788 million and a return on tangible common north of 15%. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Combined Bank Balance Sheet ($B)
Loans make up $58 billion of the $75 billion combined asset base.
Robinhood Chain Projected to Generate $160M Annual Fees by 2028
Pairing tokenized equities with memecoins in automated market makers creates self-reinforcing trading volume, but offering synthetic stock exposure risks immediate legal pushback from target issuers.
Robinhood's network is projected to generate $160 million in annual fees by 2028, according to Bernstein analysts cited by cointelegraph.com. The forecast relies on expanding demand for tokenized stock trading, which now accounts for about 27 percent of the network's total trading volume. Native memecoin pairs have simultaneously fallen to 36 percent of network activity from 100 percent at launch on July 1. Automated market-making pools on Uniswap pair memecoins with stock tokens to generate reflexive demand across both . The Robinhood chain has generated $2.13 million in daily fees over the past 24 hours to lead all blockchain networks. Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron criticized the platform's tokenized stocks providing economic exposure to AMC shares as having no company affiliation, adding that AMC will request an investigation from its outside securities counsel.
Robinhood Chain Volume Share (%)
Tokenized stocks have grown to 27 percent while memecoins dropped to 36 percent.
Visa Expands Onchain Data Integration for Blockchain Lenders and Stablecoin Cards
Bridging VisaNet settlement data directly to onchain credit markets bypasses traditional underwriting delays, allowing real-time payment flows to instantly collateralize institutional working capital.
Visa is combining its VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure to give lenders visibility into -linked card programs and fintechs seeking working . The integration allows authorized settlement receivables and onchain transaction records to automate credit assessments and financing for emerging payment companies that struggle with traditional lenders. Visa reports that its stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed a $20 billion annualized run rate, representing a 15x year-over-year increase across more than 160 active card programs. An early pilot developed with decentralized lending platform Credit Coop has supported $2.5 billion in cumulative financed settlement volume since 2023 with zero defaults. Traditional lenders often demand extensive operating history and manual , creating capital bottlenecks for digital firms that this automated infrastructure aims to bypass.
Credit Coop Pilot Financed Volume ($B)
Credit Coop's pilot has handled 2.7 billion in volume.
Rapid consolidation and infrastructure internalization are reshaping fintech and regional banking. Whether traditional regulatory frameworks can smoothly absorb these hybrid onchain and retail banking models without introducing new systemic friction remains an open debate.
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