Fintech giant Stripe is making a comeback in the world of cryptocurrencies. After dropping Bitcoin support in 2018, Stripe announced at its annual conference that merchants will soon be able to accept stablecoins for online transactions, a Bloomberg report said.
“Technical advancements in crypto have been significant,” stated John Collison, Stripe’s co-founder and president, during the event held in San Francisco. He highlighted faster transaction speeds and lower fees as key factors driving crypto’s “real utility.”
Collison emphasized the stability of stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to assets like the US dollar, as a major factor in Stripe’s re-entry. He even showcased a crypto payment using Circle’s USDC stablecoin during the presentation. This aligns with the increasing popularity of stablecoins in both the crypto and fintech spaces, with PayPal launching its own PYUSD stablecoin last year.
Stripe’s previous foray into crypto, enabling Bitcoin payments a decade ago, proved unsuccessful. Collison acknowledged the “pretty terrible” experience, citing limited customer demand as a contributing factor to the service’s termination in 2018.
However, Stripe hasn’t completely shied away from crypto. The company facilitated crypto payouts for creators on Twitter and launched a crypto on-ramp service in 2022, allowing businesses to offer customers a way to convert fiat currency into crypto. Additionally, Stripe boasts clients like Blockchain.com, MetaMask, and Magic Eden, all prominent players in the crypto ecosystem.
Another key announcement at the conference was the decoupling of Stripe’s payment processing service from its other offerings. Businesses will no longer be required to utilize Stripe for their payment processing needs to leverage other products from the company.pen_sparktunesharemore_vert
