Stripe Revives Crypto Payments After 6-Year Hiatus, Starts With USDC

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As a researcher with a background in fintech and digital currencies, I’m thrilled to see Stripe’s return to crypto payments after a six-year hiatus. Having closely followed the company’s previous attempts to enter the crypto space and witnessing the subsequent challenges, it’s impressive to observe the significant progress made in this domain.

As a financial analyst, I’m excited to share that Stripe, the renowned payments company, has recently announced its reentry into the cryptocurrency payments sector following a six-year absence. To begin this new chapter, they will initially support the US Dollar Coin (USDC) stablecoin in their payment processing system.

Re-entry Announcement

Six years after exiting the crypto payments scene, Stripe, a well-known payments processor, has announced its return. To begin this new chapter, the company will initially support the USDC stablecoin.

At Stripe’s Global Internet Economy conference, John Collison, the co-founder and President, announced that the company would be supporting cryptocurrency transactions once again.

Collison highlighted the improved transaction settlements, stating, 

“The processing of financial transactions has significantly shortened in duration, making them a far cry from the lengthy run-time of Christopher Nolan movies. Similarly, the expenses incurred during these transactions bear little resemblance to the substantial production budgets of such films.”

He emphasized a better experience this time and demonstrated a live transaction on stage.

Initial Crypto Acceptance Through USDC

As a researcher studying Stripe’s latest developments, I can share that starting from now, Stripe will begin processing cryptocurrency payments, initially focusing on USDC stablecoins. This is an important shift for the platform as it has been over three years since Stripe last supported crypto payments (in 2018). The initial acceptance will be limited to transactions made on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon networks.

As an analyst, I’d rephrase it this way: In 2022, I observed Stripe and Twitter (later renamed X) launching a program enabling creators on the social media platform to receive USDC payments on Polygon. Additionally, they established fiat-to-crypto on-ramps via APIs in partnership with cryptocurrency exchanges. I noticed that Stripe started facilitating a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp for U.S. clients, assuming conversion and compliance responsibilities.

Stripe’s Crypto History

Stripe has a profound history with cryptocurrencies, being the initial significant payment platform to embrace Bitcoin back in 2014. Nevertheless, in 2018, Stripe put a pause on its crypto initiatives, attributing their decision to Bitcoin’s unpredictable value and prolonged transaction times coupled with escalating fees. During that period, Bitcoin experienced its first major downturn, commonly referred to as the “Crypto winter,” which saw the token plummet from a peak of $19,650 in late 2017 to a closing price of just $3,401 by the end of 2018.

In 2019, Stripe got involved as a founding member of Facebook’s Libra initiative, which eventually transformed into the Diem Association. Nevertheless, Stripe departed from the project by the end of the year, and unfortunately, Libra didn’t come to fruition.

Reasons for Choosing USDC

Collison underscored USDC’s steadiness, focusing on its dollar link, which makes it a viable form of value storage. He stressed its dependability, bringing attention to this aspect.

“You don’t see it in the U.S. You have a very good currency.” 

Collision made this clear by presenting a graph showing the difference between the transaction activity of stablecoins and the trading amount of Turkish liras on cryptocurrency platforms.

At present, Stripe is reportedly valued at a massive $65 billion by Bloomberg, making it one of the most significant players in global payment processing. In 2023 alone, the company handled over a trillion dollars’ worth of transactions. Stripe’s recent move to support USDC in crypto payments signifies the increasing recognition and maturity of cryptocurrencies within conventional financial systems.

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2024-04-26 18:05