Stripe, a leading financial technology company that also integrates crypto payments, is building its first stablecoin financial product.
Jeff Weinstein, Stripe’s co-founder and chief executive officer Patrick Collison confirmed the development via X on April 25. He said the company has had plans for such a product for “a decade.”
The American payment giant’s first financial product focused on stablecoins comes a few months after the company completed a major ecosystem acquisition. In February this year, the company announced the $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider that’s now at the center of Stripe’s initiative.
The new stablecoin project will leverage Bridge’s infrastructure.
In a recent report, Stripe revealed that businesses using its payments service processed over $1.4 trillion in payment volume in 2024. This marks a 38% increase from 2023 and brings Stripe’s scale to the equivalent of 1.3% of global gross domestic product.
One of the biggest crypto-related announcements in 2024 was Stripe’s reintegration of crypto payments, with a rollout for customers in the United States. This allowed customers to pay merchants via the USDC (USDC) or Pax Dollar on multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.
Earlier this year, Stripe co-founders John Collison and Patrick Collison described stablecoins as “room-temperature superconductors for financial services.” Patrick and John shared the view in an annual letter, reiterating the importance role the newly acquired Bridge would play in its new venture into the stablecoin market.
Stripe sees stablecoins as having key benefits that include cheap and faster money transfer, global availability and programmability.
As stablecoin regulation takes shape across the globe, including the U.S. with key bills, the biggest players in the sector are grappling with increased competition. Tether and Circle currently dominate global stablecoin volumes, but there are new players including Ripple that are eyeing the potential for growth.
