- Stripe launches its first stablecoin product, built on infrastructure from its $1.1B Bridge acquisition.
- Stripe processed $1.4T in 2024, capturing 1.3% of global GDP with 17.3% YoY growth.
- Stablecoins drive Stripe’s crypto strategy, offering speed, efficiency, and global access.
Stripe, famous for including cryptocurrency payment processing, has just verified the development of its first financial product dedicated to stablecoins.
On April 25, Stripe’s co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison confirmed the news of the company’s entry into the stable coin space in a post to X, affirming that Stripe had been thinking about creating such a product for almost a decade, which should indicate how they are indeed setting themselves up for the long haul.
Stripe Hits $1.4 Trillion Payment Volume
This comes shortly after Stripe’s significant acquisition of Bridge in the spring, which was for $1.1 billion. Already acquired in February, Bridge has become the centrepiece of Stripe’s new initiative, serving as the tech underpinning Stripe’s upcoming stablecoin product.
In its most recent financial disclosure, Stripe reported processing over $1.4 trillion a year in volume for businesses through its payment services. This figure shows that Stripe increased its market share by 17.3 % year over year from 2023 and is currently responsible for the equivalent of 1.3 % of global GDP.
In the tradition of an eventful year in crypto for Stripe, the stablecoin product announcement is one more milestone. Most notable was its return to offering cryptocurrency payment capabilities, which began with U.S. customers. The feature allows merchants to accept USDC and Pax Dollar payments on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, among other blockchain networks.
Stablecoins Offer Speed, Access, and Efficiency Benefits
Co-founders of the company, John and Patrick Collison, described stablecoins as ‘room temperature superconductors’ for financial services in a 2021 annual company letter. Stablecoins’ potential to transform money transfers was their key message that one could achieve cost efficiency, speed, programmability, and global accessibility. The letter also highlighted Bridge’s important position in bringing Stripe’s ambitions in active stablecoins to fruition.
However, as stablecoin regulatory frameworks are solidifying globally (including a range of major bills in the US), the sector remains highly competitive. Now, Tether and Circle dominate the market in stablecoin transaction volume, with emerging contenders like Ripple in play to gain from the market’s growing opportunities.
Stripe’s entry into the stablecoin market for mobile payments frees a strata of bodies in fintech and crypto ecosystems from fear and launches of their own.
