acquisition

Market news reports that Anthropic is reportedly set to spend $6 billion to acquire the artificial intelligence startup DeCart.

According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed trading investment platform eToro has agreed to acquire the American online brokerage TradeZero, with a transaction value of up to $231 million. This acquisition is an important step for eToro to expand its presence in the U.S. market and strengthen its services for active traders. ReutersThe announcement of the acquisition was released simultaneously with eToro's financial report for the second quarter of 2026. The report shows that eToro continued to achieve profit growth in the second quarter, with net contribution increasing by 9% year-on-year to $229 million, mainly driven by enhanced stock trading activity.Founded in 2015, TradeZero primarily serves active traders in the U.S. and operates in Canada and other international markets. eToro stated that after acquiring TradeZero, it will further expand its retail customer base in the U.S. and gain a stronger brokerage infrastructure, accelerating the launch of new products in the U.S. market. ReutersIn recent years, eToro has continuously strengthened its layout in digital assets and on-chain finance. The company previously acquired the self-custody crypto wallet service provider Zengo to enhance its digital asset capabilities and explore the integration of traditional finance with the on-chain economy. eToro's acquisition of TradeZero reflects its strategic direction in building a comprehensive financial ecosystem between stock trading, crypto assets, and multi-asset investment platforms. It is reported that the TradeZero transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027.

According to Bloomberg, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has launched the issuance of U.S. investment-grade bonds, just two weeks after the company announced its acquisition of the bond electronic trading platform MarketAxess for approximately $6 billion.Insiders revealed that ICE's bond issuance plan is divided into up to five parts, with maturities ranging from 3 to 10 years. The preliminary pricing guidance for the longest maturity bonds is about 1.15 percentage points above U.S. Treasury yields. ICE previously announced that it would acquire MarketAxess Holdings for approximately $6 billion to further expand its presence in the fixed income trading market. MarketAxess is one of the world's leading electronic bond trading platforms, primarily serving institutional investors and providing trading services for fixed income products such as corporate bonds and government bonds.This acquisition is seen as an important move by ICE to strengthen the infrastructure of the bond market. ICE currently owns the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), futures exchanges, clearinghouses, and data services, while MarketAxess's electronic bond trading network will help ICE further expand its ecosystem for trading fixed income assets.Market participants indicate that as bond trading gradually becomes electronic, traditional exchange operators are competing for institutional investment market share by acquiring trading platforms and data companies. This financing also reflects the trend of large financial infrastructure companies supporting strategic mergers and acquisitions through the debt market.

Bitcoin.com published an article stating that the model of Web3 startups conducting corporate pilots by paying traditional financial institutions "is a dead end," with 95% of pilot projects failing to reach production environments. Web2 companies only want the idle venture capital and revenue sharing from startups, rather than their open-source innovations. The article argues that true defensiveness comes from a "structural moat"—compliance licenses, deep network liquidity, or distribution lock-ins that Web2 engineering teams cannot replicate.The article cites recent cases: Stripe was acquired for $1.1 billion after proving an annual cross-border transaction volume of $5 billion with Bridge, and Robinhood acquired Bitstamp for $200 million to gain 50 global regulatory licenses and institutional liquidity, rather than maintaining long-term vendor relationships. The article predicts that the next round of B2C expansion will present an 80/20 pattern: 80% of retail liquidity will be controlled by 3 to 5 Web2/fintech giants such as Visa, Stripe, Robinhood, PayPal, and BlackRock, providing compliance and fiat entry; 20% will be an unlicensed DeFi sandbox for validating initial product-market fit. The growth path for startups should be to first validate PMF in the DeFi sandbox, then integrate or sell to the few Web2 gateways controlling the 80% distribution layer. The article believes that the current protocol cancellations and wave of startup closures are part of a "necessary market cleanup."

The insider information about the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK by Mastercard for $1.8 billion has recently been revealed. BVNK's early investment firm Concentric disclosed that during the acquisition bidding process, the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase once held an advantage and reportedly made a top bid of $2.5 billion, but ultimately withdrew from the competition due to insufficient strategic and cultural fit between the two parties.Kjartan Rist, founding partner of Concentric, stated that the founding team of BVNK did not only focus on the bid amount when choosing an acquirer, but placed more importance on long-term partnerships and cultural alignment. "Although Coinbase may have offered a higher price, the chemistry between the two parties was not ideal." In contrast, Mastercard, as a traditional financial services company, found it easier to form synergies with BVNK in the areas of payment infrastructure and stablecoin applications.It is reported that Mastercard was involved in the acquisition discussions for BVNK early on, and after Coinbase failed to advance the deal, Mastercard re-emerged as the primary buyer, ultimately completing the acquisition for $1.8 billion.Visa also participated in the competition. Having previously invested in BVNK and holding a board observer seat, Visa once had an advantage. However, Visa ultimately chose not to pursue a direct acquisition, opting instead for an open strategy of collaborating with multiple stablecoin companies.BVNK was founded in 2018 and primarily provides stablecoin payment, cross-border settlement, and fund management infrastructure for enterprises. Its early investor Concentric invested in the company at a valuation of $4 million in 2019, and this transaction has resulted in significant returns.

According to Gate market data, Boeing plans to acquire shares of Archer Aviation, and the company's stock price surged 15% in pre-market trading.

According to the official announcement, the Swedish listed Bitcoin reserve company H100 has completed a Bitcoin acquisition transaction, purchasing 2,455.4 BTC at a price of approximately $62,900 per coin, increasing its total holdings to 3,506 BTC.It is reported that this transaction is the largest merger and acquisition deal in the European public Bitcoin equity sector and is also the world's first "Bitcoin for Bitcoin" merger and acquisition transaction in the public market. The entire transaction was paid for in H100 shares, with an implied share price of 1.86 Swedish Krona per share (1x mNAV), with no cash consideration. The fully diluted number of satoshis per share increased by approximately 5%, from 288 satoshis to 303 satoshis, and the acquired party holds no financial debt.

According to the Economic Daily News, there are market rumors that TSMC plans to acquire AUO's L7 plant (7.5 generation line) and L5C plant (5 generation line), with the transaction amount estimated to exceed 30 billion New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 920 million USD). Both parties are negotiating based on the "Innolux model," and TSMC has sent personnel for on-site audits but has not yet signed a contract announcement. The AUO Zhongke plant is adjacent to TSMC's Zhongke No. 15 plant, providing geographical advantages.The report states that TSMC plans to use CoPoS technology as the next generation of 2.5D advanced packaging after CoWoS, introducing panel-level glass substrate packaging through "transforming round into square" to address the area waste and warping issues of ultra-large AI chips on 12-inch wafers. TSMC's first CoPoS production line has been completed and launched at the Chiayi AP7 plant. Industry insiders believe that panel manufacturers possess experience in handling large substrates and managing production lines, making them providers of "intermediate layer capabilities" for the mass production of advanced packaging.

According to South Korean media NATE, the Korea Regulatory Reform Committee has proposed amendments to the enforcement decree of the Specific Financial Transaction Information Act, excluding minor violations from the qualification restrictions for major shareholders of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP).This move has sparked discussions in the market regarding exchange mergers and acquisitions, the entry of new businesses, and the fairness of regulation. The proposal to relax restrictions also involves issues related to the boundaries of the enforcement decree's authority.

The real-time cross-border capital flow platform OpenFX announced the acquisition of Global Ledger, with its founder Tyler McIntyre appointed as the head of banking. At the same time, it launched a multi-currency account service. McIntyre previously co-founded the new bank Novo, which serves over 300,000 businesses and is valued at over $700 million.The account allows customers to make payments in local currency, and companies can hold received funds directly without the need for immediate conversion. OpenFX has launched the USD account in its first phase, which can receive and send funds to over 100 countries through ACH, Fedwire, and SWIFT, and supports instant connection with stablecoins like USDC.

According to The Information, OpenAI has acquired some patent assets from the AI chip startup Rain AI, after the two parties previously negotiated the acquisition but ultimately failed to complete the deal.Rain AI is a startup focused on the development of AI chips, founded about 8 years ago, with investors including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Reports indicate that due to the failure of the acquisition plan, Rain AI has nearly ceased operations recently, and most employees have left the company.This patent acquisition shows that although some companies personally invested in by Altman may have commercial collaborations with OpenAI, this does not mean that all invested enterprises will receive direct support from OpenAI.Rain AI was previously dedicated to developing specialized chips for artificial intelligence computing, hoping to reduce the operating costs of AI models through customized hardware and enhance edge computing capabilities. As competition in AI infrastructure intensifies, chips, computing power, and energy have become core strategic resources for large AI companies.Industry insiders believe that OpenAI's acquisition of Rain AI's related patents may be aimed at absorbing its technological assets and strengthening its layout in the field of AI hardware and computing infrastructure.

According to Bloomberg, Italian app developer Bending Spoons SpA has agreed to acquire American software company Airtable for a total equity value of $2.25 billion, which will be completed as an all-cash transaction. After deducting Airtable's net cash of approximately $965 million, the enterprise value is about $1.29 billion. This price represents a significant reduction of about 80% from Airtable's valuation of $11.7 billion in 2021, serving as another example of the valuation correction in the software industry.Airtable was founded in 2013 and provides tools that allow non-technical employees to build customized applications. At the end of 2021, it raised $735 million at a valuation of $11.7 billion but failed to go public as planned "within a few years." Like many software companies, it has struggled to maintain stable growth amid the impact of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude Code. As of June 2026, Airtable's annual recurring revenue is approximately $480 million. This is Bending Spoons' first acquisition since its Nasdaq listing on July 1, and after the transaction is completed, Airtable will gain resources to advance the construction of its AI-native platform, but its operational model is similar to private equity, which typically involves layoffs and restructuring of acquired companies.

According to official news, Mastercard has announced the completion of its acquisition of the stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK to enhance its global stablecoin service capabilities. Mastercard's Chief Product Officer stated that in a multi-currency world where various values coexist, including fiat currencies, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits, the next generation of payment models will be determined by the efficiency of connections across different rails. BVNK's on-chain infrastructure and stablecoin-native technology will help financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises expand stablecoin application scenarios such as cross-border B2B payments, remittances, settlements, and cash flows.Previously, in March, it was reported that Mastercard planned to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.

The tokenized asset company Ondo Finance is evaluating a potential acquisition deal, with a valuation range of $250 million to $500 million. According to insiders, the company has not yet appointed formal advisors and is considering expansion through mergers and acquisitions.In 2026, trading activity in the cryptocurrency sector remains active, with tokenization and institutional infrastructure being the acquisition directions of interest for companies seeking to scale.

According to Jinshi reports, SpaceX is seeking to acquire Terrestrial Spectrum.

HashKey Holdings Limited's latest announcement states that its wholly-owned subsidiary HKDAG SG has entered into a non-binding framework agreement with the major shareholders of the Singapore Derivatives Exchange APEX regarding a potential acquisition of all its equity. The acquisition price and payment arrangements have yet to be determined.According to HashKey, APEX holds a recognized exchange license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and its member company Asia Pacific Clear holds a recognized clearing house license, possessing comprehensive issuance and clearing capabilities. HashKey indicated that if the acquisition is completed, it will help establish a more scalable regulated presence in Singapore.The announcement also emphasizes that the proposed acquisition is subject to the execution of final documents and obtaining approval from MAS before it can be finalized. As of the announcement date, neither party has executed any final documents, nor has MAS approval been obtained, and the transaction may or may not proceed.

According to Bloomberg, PayPal announced its second-quarter results, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.38, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.27; total payment volume reached $486.4 billion, also higher than market estimates.The company also raised its adjusted earnings per share guidance for 2026 to $5.38, above last year's level. Previously, private equity firm Advent and payment competitor Stripe had made an acquisition offer of about $60 per share, to which PayPal did not respond in its latest statement. Since taking office in March this year, new CEO Enrique Lores has restructured the business lines and plans to cut about 20% of the workforce in the next two to three years.

UK real estate technology startup Dwelly announced the completion of a $170 million financing round to acquire more real estate companies and integrate artificial intelligence into its operations.This round of financing was led by EQT Growth and General Catalyst, including $95 million in equity financing and a $75 million debt financing facility provided by Trinity Capital. The company did not disclose its valuation.

According to The Block, Magic Labs has agreed to sell its embedded wallet business to cryptocurrency exchange Kraken's parent company Payward as part of a broader company restructuring, with Magic Labs simultaneously rebranding to Newton Labs. This transaction is in the form of an asset sale, and after the deal is completed, Magic Labs and Payward will continue to operate independently, with wallet customers being taken over by Payward Services.Since its establishment in 2018, Magic Labs has created over 60 million wallets, supporting more than 200,000 developers. Newton Labs will focus on developing the Newton Protocol, which is an authorization layer for on-chain finance that executes compliance, security, and risk strategies before transactions are settled on-chain. The protocol entered the mainnet testing phase in June 2026. The first product based on the Newton Protocol, VaultKit, is a set of composable strategy tools for institutional-grade vaults.This acquisition is another transaction in Payward's ongoing expansion of its financial infrastructure platform. Previously, the company completed the acquisition of the CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock, and acquired the Hong Kong stablecoin payment company Reap Technologies for $600 million. In 2025, it also acquired the retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.