Cantor says financial plumbing is being rebuilt, starts fintech coverage

Investing.com -- Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage of fintech and payments stocks, saying a wholesale redesign of the global financial system is underway as blockchain and AI reshape how money and assets move across accounts, balance sheets, and jurisdictions.

Cantor said the shift is not yet obvious to most users because fintech firms have long layered modern interfaces on top of outdated infrastructure.



Beneath that abstraction, however, the firm sees fundamental changes to financial plumbing that create both disruption risks and growth opportunities. Rather than a simple replacement of incumbents, Cantor said outcomes will vary by business model, making stock selection critical.

The firm said future sector leaders will need exposure to at least one of four disruptive areas: stablecoins, agentic commerce, real-world asset tokenization, and embedded finance.

Cantor rated Visa Overweight, saying the company sits behind a deep duopoly alongside Mastercard and remains insulated from many forms of disruption. It said Visa’s role as a transaction facilitator, rather than a transporter of funds, makes it largely agnostic to how money is stored or moved, including via stablecoins. Cantor sees scope for incremental growth through pricing, value-added services, and the continued shift toward digital payments, though it expressed a slight preference for Mastercard.

Mastercard was also rated Overweight. Cantor said Mastercard’s ubiquity across consumers, banks, and merchants creates strong network effects and reinforces its competitive moat. Relative to Visa, Cantor sees higher revenue growth, more margin expansion potential, and less legal and regulatory overhang.

PayPal was rated Neutral. Cantor said recent strategic changes have produced a more balanced growth engine across branded checkout, payments processing, and Venmo, supporting volume and revenue acceleration into 2026. However, it flagged expected deceleration in transaction margin dollars and earnings growth due to higher investment, which could limit near-term upside.

Coinbase was rated Overweight, with Cantor describing it as a regulated bridge between decentralized and traditional finance. The firm said Coinbase is evolving beyond spot crypto trading into a broader financial platform and is well positioned to benefit from rising stablecoin adoption.

Cantor also rated Strategy Overweight, citing its role as a bitcoin-focused operating company and its ability to use capital markets structures to expand bitcoin exposure over time.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Broadcom credit risk measures rise amid AI financing deals
• Citi maintains buy ratings on Argentina power firms amid sector shifts
• XPeng stock falls on Q2 results miss; robotics arm raises $900 mln