Marcel van Oost

Founder/CEO 

Email for brand collaboration: bonjour @ marcelvanoost.nl 

About me:

What do I want to become when I grow up? That's a question I asked myself for a long time. My childhood dream, playing for Ajax, was soon out of the question (I wasn’t even close…). So what's next? 

I studied Communication & Media, dropped out, and started working at an Acquiring Bank.

After these first steps in the Payments Industry I founded a Payments consultancy business, followed by a Collecting Payment Service Provider, with an exit in 2017. 

Nowadays I'm back in (FinTech-) Media, and invest as an Angel Investor in FinTech startups on the side.

NO, I don't do any speaker gigs, podcasts, webinars etc. 

I DO share the latest FinTech Industry trends and news updates here on Linkedin, and in my daily newsletter. 👉 Get the most important FinTech news and analysis in a 5 minute daily briefing you’ll actually look forward to reading, by signing up here: https://www.connectingthedotsinfin.tech

Investor

🚨𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Stripe has expressed interest in acquiring all or parts of PayPal!

Let that sink in.

Stripe, still private, still founder-led, potentially making a move on one of the original digital payments pioneers 🤯

This is early-stage and nothing is confirmed: https://lnkd.in/djESepSw

But strategically? It’s fascinating.

If Stripe were to acquire PayPal (or pieces of it), it would mean:

• Massive merchant + consumer network consolidation
• Combining Stripe’s developer-first infrastructure with PayPal’s global wallet base
• Instant scale in Venmo, branded checkout, and global licenses
• A new competitive dynamic vs Visa, Mastercard, Adyen — and even Apple

It would also mark a generational shift.

Stripe represents the API-driven, infrastructure-native era of FinTech.

PayPal represents the first wave of internet payments.

A deal like this wouldn’t just be M&A.

It would be symbolic.

We’re watching the potential consolidation of two decades of digital payments evolution into one entity.

Now the big questions:

– Would regulators allow it?
– Does Stripe want the full company or just strategic assets?
– Is this opportunistic timing around PayPal’s valuation?

If this goes anywhere, it reshapes the global payments landscape overnight.

What do you think? 

Bold strategic masterstroke or integration nightmare waiting to happen?


P.S. Earlier today, news broke that Stripe has surged from $92B to $𝟭𝟱𝟵 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 valuation in just 12 months through a new employee share sale: https://lnkd.in/dSvGXcHj

Stripe is lining up a new tender offer, valuing the company at $𝟭𝟰𝟬 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 🤯

I repeat:

Stripe is preparing a new tender offer that would value the company at at least $140 billion, according to Bloomberg (https://lnkd.in/dRqAYHBF), a jump of more than $30 billion from its ~$107B valuation last year: https://lnkd.in/e68nNrGJ

The move reinforces a pattern Stripe has leaned into since 2024: frequent secondary transactions that give employees liquidity without the pressure of going public. 

In other words, Stripe is behaving like a public company, just without the ticker.

Importantly, the fundamentals now support that confidence. Stripe reached full-year profitability in 2024, hasn’t raised primary capital since its $6.5B Series I in 2023, and continues to scale across core payments while expanding into new rails. 

Recent acquisitions of Bridge and Privy signal a serious effort to embed stablecoins and crypto infrastructure directly into its payments stack.

Despite a modest workforce reduction last year (~3.5%), Stripe continues to hire and invest, suggesting the restructuring was about efficiency, not retrenchment.

The takeaway is clear: Stripe doesn’t need the public markets.

With scale, profitability, and private liquidity in place, an IPO is no longer a necessity, it’s an option.


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🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Revolut eyes $𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡+ valuation 🤯

And sets IPO ambitions at $150B:

Revolut is considering a fresh sale of shares in the second half of this year, people familiar with the matter said: https://lnkd.in/dpwR9sba

After being valued at $75B last year (up from $45B in 2024), investors are now pushing for a process that would price the company at $100B+ in the secondary market.

And here’s the bold part:

Through an eventual listing, Revolut is said to be targeting a valuation of at least $150 BILLION 🤯

That would put it in the same conversation as global banking heavyweights, and far ahead of most FinTech peers.

This comes on the heels of Stripe’s $159B valuation revealed yesterday: https://lnkd.in/dSvGXcHj

A few important signals:

• Previous rounds were consistently oversubscribed.

• Major names like Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Franklin Templeton and NVentures (the VC arm of NVIDIA Corp) are already on the cap table.

• 2025 revenue reportedly tracking toward £4.1B ($5.5B)

Revolut isn’t just raising capital.

It’s building scarcity before going public.


Are we witnessing the emergence of Europe’s first true $150B tech giant?


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🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Revolut just got the green light to test a UK 🇬🇧 stablecoin.

And it’s happening while they’re still in regulatory limbo…

Despite still being in regulatory “mobilisation” for its UK banking licence, Revolut has been selected by the Financial Conduct Authority to join its stablecoin sandbox.

Out of 20 applicants, only four firms were chosen.

Revolut will test a pound-denominated stablecoin, fully backed by UK reserve assets, designed for:

→ Payments
→ Settlement
→ Crypto trading

This comes at an interesting moment:

• UK sterling stablecoins are worth < $5m today
• US dollar stablecoins exceed $300bn
• The UK wants to finalise its stablecoin framework this year

While Revolut is still awaiting full UK lending approvals and remains limited in deposits during its banking “mobilisation” phase, this sandbox approval signals regulatory trust.

The bigger picture:

The UK clearly doesn’t want to fall behind the US and EU in the stablecoin race.
And Revolut is positioning itself right at the centre of that shift.

If this goes live, it could be one of the first serious attempts at a mainstream GBP stablecoin inside a regulated FinTech ecosystem.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/duYCYtjN

My Question for you:

Do you think sterling stablecoins can realistically compete with digital dollars, or will USD dominance remain untouchable?

Stripe Strategy Map 👇

Stripe’s latest strategy signals one thing clearly: 

They’re positioning themselves as the financial operating system of the next economy.

If you connect the dots, this is what I see unfolding in 2026:

→ M&A remains core to the playbook.

Further acquisitions to tighten control over the full financial stack feel inevitable.

On that note, check out the latest rumor about Stripe potentially acquiring PayPal 🤯 https://lnkd.in/dHpMX7UM

→ Crypto infrastructure goes default.

The $1.1B Bridge deal plus the Tempo blockchain launch put Stripe at the center of stablecoins moving from niche to primary rails, especially for AI-driven transactions.

→ Agentic commerce accelerates.

Partnerships with Salesforce, OpenAI, and Anthropic position Stripe as the payment backbone for autonomous AI activity.

📷 Source: CB Insights


If Stripe continues this trajectory, 2026 could become the most important M&A year in payments history.

Who’s next on their shopping list?

Thoughts?

👀 A mobile payments was successfully sent from a user of 🇪🇸 Spain’s Bizum to a BLIK user at 🇵🇱 PKO Bank Polski, further proving that European 🇪🇺 mobile payment systems can work seamlessly together.

Each such transfer brings us closer to full interoperability across Europe, building a solid foundation for a truly integrated digital payments market.

"The first phone-to-phone transfer from Spain to Poland is a milestone on the path to making interoperability between European systems a standard. Further tests and the expansion of partnerships are intended to bring us closer to the moment when a cross-border phone-number transfer will be as simple as a local P2P transaction – something nearly 450 million Europeans are waiting for" - says Dariusz Mazurkiewicz, CEO of BLIK.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dMbg64iQ


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🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Revolut has officially launched full banking operations in Mexico 🇲🇽, ending its beta phase and marking its first fully licensed bank outside Europe.

The neobank confirmed that Revolut Bank S.A., a multiple-purpose banking institution, is now live with no waiting list. Mexican users can download the app on iOS and Android and open an account immediately.

“After an intense journey, from licensing to beta, we are officially launching Revolut Bank in Mexico,” said Juan Miguel Guerra Dávila, CEO of Revolut Mexico in an interview: https://lnkd.in/gJPHahqq

Mexico becomes Revolut’s first non-European banking market, expanding its presence to 40 countries as the company targets 100 million active customers globally.

Revolut also noted it is the first independent digital bank to obtain a Mexican banking license through a direct application. 

The subsidiary was capitalized with over $100 million, more than double regulatory requirements, resulting in a capital adequacy ratio of 447%.

At launch, Revolut offers interest-bearing accounts, instant global peer-to-peer transfers, low-cost international payments, multi-currency accounts with around 30 currencies, premium subscriptions, and its RevPoints loyalty program.

With this move, Revolut positions itself not just as a global fintech in Mexico, but as a full-scale local bank.

More about this in my newsletter!

📷 Source: Miguel Angel Rocha on Twixer: https://lnkd.in/gauvt8rE


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

Stablecoins look instant on the surface. Underneath, it’s a full payments stack.

If you’re building or investing in stablecoin rails, it helps to think in layers:

The 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝘆𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 (great graphic by Michael Ngo at TransFi 👇)

Every real-world stablecoin payment runs through all of these layers:

►	𝗙𝗶𝗮𝘁 – USD, EUR, JPY. The credibility anchor.
►	𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝗿𝘀 – minting fully-backed stablecoins (USDT, USDC, etc.).
►	𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 – Ethereum, Solana and others where settlement actually happens.
►	𝗟𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 – FX, pricing, and conversion between rails and tokens.
►	𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗱𝘆 – securing assets, keys, governance, MPC.
►	𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – transaction monitoring, sanctions, traceability.
►	𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀 – abstracting blockchain complexity into payments infra.
►	𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘀 – addresses, keys, and transaction UX for users and apps.
►	𝗗𝗲𝗙𝗶 – yield, lending, liquidity, capital efficiency.
►	𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 – on/off-ramps that connect crypto back to local bank accounts.

My takeaway: adoption accelerates when the last mile disappears. Users don’t want “a stablecoin strategy”, they want payroll, payouts, and checkout that just works.

Which layer is the biggest bottleneck right now: liquidity, compliance, or ramps?


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🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Revolut enters the Global 500 for the first time, and is the fastest-growing brand on the list, with Brand Finance valuing its brand at $6.6 billion, up 239% year-over-year 🤯

Apple retains its position as the world’s most valuable brand with a 6% brand value growth to USD607.6 billion. 

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dWeg4qBJ


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🤯 The hard reality: two American companies process the vast majority of Europe’s 🇪🇺 card transactions 👇

The CEO of the European Payments Initiative (EPI Company) Wero, Martina Weimert, just “urgently” called in the FT for European alternatives to the dominant card schemes: https://lnkd.in/dNaiQ_P4

Let’s look at the numbers (📷 below👇).

In C2B card transactions across Europe, the overwhelming share runs on the rails of:

👉 Mastercard
👉 Visa

And that doesn’t even include co-branded cards 🤯

The ambition is clear.

The real challenge?

Building enough scale and merchant acceptance to rival networks that have compounded for 50+ years.

In payments, network effects are brutal.

Do you think Europe can realistically build a third global scheme?


📷 Source: Raynor de Best

My top 10 FinTech News Updates you don't want to miss today.

I’ve sourced and listed the most important FinTech news so you don't have to:

1️⃣- Revolut and PayPal Pass on St. Maarten… And That Says a Lot

2️⃣- Top Banking Trends 2026: The Ultimate List of Innovations by DashDevs LLC

3️⃣- Social Engineering: Solving the Most Difficult Fraud Challenge with André F., CEO and Co-Founder of Incognia

4️⃣- Prudential Bank Ghana and Mastercard Deepen Ties to Drive Ghana’s Digital Payment Growth

5️⃣- DANA Indonesia Eyes IPO on Indonesia Stock Exchange

6️⃣- ZEN.COM Grows Globally without Chasing Super-App Status

7️⃣- WafR Raises USD 4M Seed to Scale Embedded Retail Finance in Morocco

8️⃣- Inscope Nabs $14.5M to Solve the Pain of Financial Reporting

9️⃣- Hyperliquid Web3 'SuperApp' Based Raises $11.5 Million Series A

🔟- Crowdcube and London Stock Exchange Group Launch First Offer Via a TPEIC

Read the complete newsletter for more news updates, insights, and the best #fintechreport below👇

This newsletter also includes: Igor Tomych, Alin Becheanu, CFE, CAMS, ING, Sune Gabelgård, EPI Company, OakNorth, Gergely Zaborszky, Pine Labs, Shalini Pillai Banerjee, FIS, Monzo Bank, Binance, BNP Paribas, Crypto.com, Kindo, Tillo, Razorpay, superU AI, and more!

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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

#fintech #fintechindustry #financialtechnology #payments #paytech #openbanking#regtech #blockchain #bankingtech #digitalbanking #neobank #challengerbank #openfinance #fintechnews

View newsletter: Connecting the dots in FinTech

Hey FinTech Fanatic! This morning in Curaçao, I started the day the way I often do lately. Early sun. Coffee outside… A deep scan of the headlines bef

Open article: Revolut and PayPal Pass on St. Maarten… And That Says a Lot by Marcel van Oost • 8 min read

Revolut and PayPal Pass on St. Maarten… And That Says a Lot

Here are the latest Payments News Updates you don't want to miss today.

I’ve sourced and listed the most important Payments news so you don't have to:

1️⃣- PayPal Draws Takeover Interest After 46% Market Cap Slide

2️⃣- 15M-User Neobank Authenticates 92% of Instant Payments Frictionlessly Using Incognia’s Device & Location Intelligence

3️⃣- Prudential Bank Ghana and Mastercard Expand Partnership to Accelerate Ghana’s Digital Payments

4️⃣- Razorpay and superU AI Target Frictionless Commerce Through Agentic Payments

5️⃣- Philippine FinTech BCRemit Expands Remittance Services to 23 Countries

6️⃣- Pine Labs Awarded Multi-Year Contracts by the Top 3 Indian OMCs

7️⃣- Online Payment Platform and SUNMI Partner to Democratise Payment Monetisation for SaaS Platforms across Europe

8️⃣- Kindo Partners with Tillo to Bring Rewards to Childcare Payments

9️⃣- Green Banana BNPLX.io and VR Payment GmbH Partner for BNPL Orchestration

🔟- Visa’s Proposed Deal Rejected by Mexico’s Antitrust Watchdog

Read the complete newsletter for more news updates and insights, and to get the most important Payments news and analysis from around the world!

This newsletter also includes: Arthur Bedel 💳 ♻️, Checkout.com, André F., Alin Becheanu, CFE, CAMS, ING, Sune Gabelgård, EPI Company, Shalini Pillai Banerjee, ZEN.COM, WafR, DANA Indonesia, Hyperliquid, Revolut, RevSpring, TrustCommerce®, and more!

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#payments #paytech #paymentsolutions #paymentservices #paymentindustry #paymentprocessing #digitalpayments #onlinepayments #fintech #financialtechnology #fintechindustry

View newsletter: Connecting the dots in PayTech

Hey Payments Fanatic! PayPal is reportedly attracting takeover interest after losing roughly 46% of its market value over the past year. According to 

Open article: PayPal Draws Takeover Interest After 46% Market Cap Slide by Marcel van Oost • 7 min read

PayPal Draws Takeover Interest After 46% Market Cap Slide

Growth and Marketing @ Pocket FM | Driving B2C Growth with Innovative Strategies

Rohan is a Growth and Marketing Professional, he plans and executes go-to-market strategies for launching and scaling business verticals and products. He leverages his expertise in content marketing, social media, brand, and community building, to drive user acquisition, retention, and conversion across organic online channels, including but not limited to Social Media, YouTube, and Influencers.

Rohan has over 9 years of experience in Growth Marketing, P&L Management, Social Media, Brand, and Product Marketing, working with B2C companies in the education and entertainment sectors. Previously, as the Growth Manager at Pocket FM, and Unacademy, he led various digital and content marketing campaigns and initiatives, resulting in increased revenue and engagement for one of the highest revenue categories.

Rohan holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Management specializing in Shipping and Logistics. Rohan believes in constant upskilling and has done several cohort-based courses to stay on par with changing times and trends. He is a lifelong learner inspired to continuously upgrade, upskill, and bring out the best in him—his goal is to create impactful and innovative solutions that benefit the users and the business.

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