Stripe has recently expanded its crypto initiatives by acquiring Bridge, a stablecoin platform, in what is reportedly a $1.1 billion deal. This acquisition is said to be Stripe’s largest purchase thus far and one of the most significant in the nascent crypto industry.
Worldwide Support
Stripe had previously integrated Bitcoin as a payment option over a decade ago but discontinued support due to high transaction costs and processing bottlenecks. Now, after partnering with Coinbase, Stripe has reintroduced stablecoin support, allowing transactions in Circle’s USDC on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, as well as Pax Dollar on those blockchains.
Stablecoin Ambitions
The acquisition of Bridge indicates that Stripe is looking beyond just supporting stablecoins. Founded by former Coinbase executives, Bridge offers businesses a range of capabilities for creating, storing, sending, and receiving stablecoins. This move can be seen as the web3 equivalent to Stripe’s services.
Stablecoins have been pivotal in the payments industry over recent years, functioning much like fiat currencies on a one-to-one basis. Despite Tether’s USDT currently leading the pack, PayPal has already issued its own stablecoin, PYUSD, showing that major players are increasingly interested in this space.
Cryptocurrency Analyst Joel Hugentobler from Javelin Strategy & Research highlighted that “stablecoins will continue to proliferate in areas like access, usage, applications, global reach, and regulatory developments,” emphasizing their potential to expand Stripe’s client base globally.
