Hello, Fintech Friends!

I think 2025 will go down in fintech history as the year when payments became cool again. And no, it’s not only because stablecoins finally became a thing. Last time, I wrote about Capital One’s acquisition of Discover, which is now nearly complete. With all regulatory approvals in hand, Capital One expects to close the deal on May 18, creating the largest credit card lender in the U.S. and, more importantly, a card network that can rival Amex in scale.

But there is more. Global Payments and FIS pulled off what can only be described as an NBA-style trade: Global Payments is taking over Worldpay, while FIS gets TSYS. Visa is moving beyond cards in its ambition to capture commercial and cross-border payments. Shift4 is stepping up to directly compete with Stripe and Adyen. Wise is aiming to move trillions by powering cross-border payments for major banks. And, if this was not enough, PayPal partners with Coinbase to bring stablecoins to commerce.

Oh, and the TWIF Index? It’s down year-to-date (-4.5%), but it is outperforming both S&P 500 (-6.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (-10.0%), thanks, in no small part, to Visa and Mastercard. So much for the idea that payments are a commodity. This space is cool again. LFG!

Jevgenijs
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Best-Performing Fintech Stocks

There are five Brazilian fintech companies trading on the U.S. stock exchanges. Four of them are in the top 10 of the best-performing fintech stocks year-to-date: Stone (NASDAQ: STNE) +72%, Inter (NASDAQ: INTR) +58%, PagBank (NYSE: PAGS) +57%, and XP (NASDAQ: XP). Can you name the missing one?