TabaPay’s proposed $9.7 million purchase of Synapse assets did not close. In May 2024, the deal fell apart amid a dispute over funding conditions and Mercury’s relationship with Synapse and Evolve. The parties offered conflicting accounts, and the available reporting does not establish that either side’s explanation was proven.
What TabaPay proposed to buy—and when
Synapse, a financial technology intermediary connecting fintech programs with banks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 22, 2024, according to Evolve Bank & Trust. Two days later, Banking Dive reported that TabaPay had proposed paying $9.7 million for Synapse assets. The proposal covered brokerage, lending and card-issuing businesses that TabaPay said would add to its existing services. The sale still required bankruptcy-court approval; the announcement was not evidence that it had closed. (Banking Dive, April 24, 2024)
In May, TabaPay called off the proposed acquisition. Banking Dive’s reporting connected the breakdown to disagreements about funding conditions and Mercury. Those issues involved separate relationships and competing claims, so it is important not to treat the dispute as a simple failure by one party to meet a condition in the purchase agreement.
Why the parties disagreed about the deal
Synapse said Evolve had not funded the required accounts
Synapse CEO Sankaet Pathak told Banking Dive that the deal’s closing conditions required Evolve to fully fund “for benefit of” (FBO) accounts. He said Evolve had not done so, leaving TabaPay unable to close.
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Evolve said it met a condition in a different agreement
Evolve said it was not a party to the TabaPay-Synapse purchase agreement and had no closing conditions under that agreement. It described a separate settlement agreement with Synapse that included a funding condition, and said it satisfied that condition. Evolve also denied that it sought Mercury’s “buy-in.” Its statement to Banking Dive was: “Evolve was not party to TabaPay’s agreement with Synapse, and we did not have closing conditions to meet. We did have a settlement agreement with Synapse that had a funding condition. Evolve satisfied that condition.” (Banking Dive, May 2024)
The distinction matters: the accounts concerned different agreements. Synapse’s assertion about what was required for the sale and Evolve’s description of its separate settlement do not, by themselves, resolve whether the transaction’s conditions were met or why it could not close.
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What Mercury had to do with the dispute
Mercury said it had migrated off Synapse in October 2023, following Evolve’s process, and was confident its customers’ money was accounted for. In a statement quoted by Banking Dive, a Mercury spokesperson said: “We have thoroughly investigated Synapse’s claims from the moment they were brought to our attention in March 2024 – six months after we migrated off of Synapse – and are confident that they have no merit and all customer funds are accounted for,” (Banking Dive, May 2024)
Synapse made contrary allegations about Mercury’s migration and its relationship with Evolve, connecting them to unresolved balances. The reporting records both sides’ positions but does not independently settle those allegations. Mercury’s account is therefore a company statement, not a neutral finding that resolves the broader reconciliation questions.
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Why Synapse’s collapse mattered to customers
Synapse connected fintech companies and banks and helped support account operations. After its bankruptcy and shutdown, some customers of partner apps found their accounts frozen or their balances unavailable, the Associated Press reported on May 22, 2024. That disruption was a separate and wider consequence of Synapse’s collapse; the failed TabaPay proposal did not itself establish what any individual customer was owed. (Associated Press, May 22, 2024)
The scale was uncertain at the time. The AP reported that a Synapse court-document estimate described roughly 100 customer relationships and about 10 million Americans as exposed. Regulators considered that figure extremely high and expected the number of affected people to be in the thousands or tens of thousands. These were estimates and expectations reported in May 2024, not a final count of customers who lost access or funds. (Associated Press, May 22, 2024)
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Why balances were difficult to reconcile
In a later statement, Evolve alleged that some statements Synapse provided to the bank differed from statements sent to end users, including instances in which transfers to Synapse Brokerage were omitted from customer-facing statements. Evolve said the discrepancies complicated reconciliation. That is Evolve’s description of its review; it is not a judicial finding or a complete independent accounting of all customer balances. (Evolve Bank & Trust)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is—and is not—established
- The $9.7 million transaction was reported as a proposal pending court approval, and TabaPay later called it off.
- Synapse and Evolve gave opposing accounts of the funding issue; Evolve said it was not party to the purchase agreement and had met a condition in its separate settlement with Synapse.
- Mercury said it had migrated away in October 2023 and its customers’ funds were accounted for; Synapse made contrary allegations about the migration and balances.
- The available reporting cited here does not establish the final court-approved disposition of the proposed asset sale, a complete reconciliation of customer balances, or a final resolution of the parties’ allegations.
For customers seeking answers about a particular account, the corporate dispute alone cannot confirm an individual balance or repayment status. Those outcomes require account-specific information and authoritative records from the relevant institutions or bankruptcy process.
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