Mastercard is selling its biggest acquisition at a loss. The replacement tells you everything 💳💸; Wise doesn’t need a banking license to win the UK deposit war 🏦🇬🇧

FinTech is Eating the World, 31 March

Hey Everyone,

Good morning & happy Tuesday! Today we’re looking into Mastercard, which is now selling its biggest M&A ever and it’s doing that at a loss (understanding Mastercard’s 2019 vs. 2026 Thesis, why it moved from real-time payments to stablecoins, how BVNK acquisition explains everything here + bonus deep dive into Mastercard’s latest financials & how it’s building the trust layer for AI agents inside), and Wise that just joined the battle for the UK retail deposits (what it’s all about and what’s Wise’s USP here, what’s the path to Wise Bank + bonus deep dive into Revolut’s latest 2025 financials inside). So let’s just jump straight into the interesting stuff 🌶️

Mastercard is selling its biggest acquisition at a loss. The replacement tells you everything 💳💸

Following the money 💸 Finance giant Mastercard MA 0.00%↑ paid a whopping $3.2 billion for Nets’ real-time payments unit in a bid for the future of European payments in 2019. Just seven years later, it’s trying to get out of its biggest acquisition ever for less than it paid 👀

Let’s unpack this, understand what Mastercard is telling us with this move, and see what’s next.