Repost the original title “A $1.1 Billion Acquisition is Just the Beginning! Stripe Defines Borderless Finance with Stablecoin Financial Accounts”

In October 2024, after a lavish $1.1 billion acquisition of the stablecoin payment platform Bridge, Stripe officially announced the launch of stablecoin financial accounts on May 8, aiming to provide more efficient and convenient cross-border payment and fund management solutions for global enterprises, further solidifying its position as a global leader in financial technology.

So, which stablecoins does Stripe’s stablecoin financial account support? What is the underlying asset composition? What countries or regions does the business cover? From early Bitcoin payment explorations to the current stablecoin strategy, what layout does Stripe have in the cryptocurrency field? This article will take you on a journey to explore the details.

Stripe stablecoin financial account: defining borderless finance

According to the official Stripe documentation, stablecoin financial accounts allow users to hold balances of USDC and USDB stablecoins, and to send and receive funds through stablecoins and traditional financial channels (such as ACH, SEPA, and wire transfers). This means that funds in stablecoin balances can be transferred to external bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. If the recipient is an external bank account, the received amount will be automatically converted based on the current exchange rate, greatly enhancing the convenience and flexibility of fund transfers.

Stripe also revealed that in the future, it will gradually support more types of stablecoins in the account. The technical support for this service comes from Bridge, which Stripe acquired last year. Bridge focuses on the infrastructure construction of stablecoins, which can help enterprises seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency technology and provide security for the operation of Stripe’s stablecoin financial account.

At the stablecoin custody level, Bridge plays a critical role. Currently, the Stripe stablecoin account supports USDC (issued by Circle), as well as the closed-loop stablecoin USDB issued by Bridge. It is worth noting that USDB is not publicly available for sale and is pegged 1:1 with the US dollar. Its underlying assets consist of the US dollar and the BlackRock Short-Term Bond Fund.

As described by a senior executive at Stripe Sessions 2025, stablecoins can truly achieve borderless finance. By comparing the payment transaction volume of the first two years of Stripe with that of Bridge, we can see that Bridge is showing a more significant exponential growth trend, which also indirectly confirms the enormous potential of stablecoins.

I observed in the Bridge USDB document’s API call information that USDB is located on the Solana blockchain, and Bridge is responsible for minting, burning, and holding the stablecoin reserves.

It is worth mentioning that Bridge also supports creating custom stablecoins, including the choice of chain, token name, and reserve strategy. At the end of each month, Bridge will distribute a portion of the profits to holders of USDB and custom stablecoins created on Bridge. Rewards will be minted in the form of new tokens.

However, Bridge also stated in an update a month ago that Bridge stablecoins (USDB and custom stablecoins) currently support the Solana and Base networks, and will soon be launched on Polygon, Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum. At the same time, Bridge stablecoins are always backed by an equivalent value of the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. The underlying assets include short-term US Treasury bonds, overnight US Treasury repo agreements, money market funds, and cash. This investment portfolio is held in separate accounts to protect the rights of token holders and is custodied by partners including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Apex.

In terms of service coverage, currently, Stripe stablecoin financial accounts are open to enterprise users in 101 countries or regions, mainly concentrated in Latin America, Africa, Asian countries mainly in Central Asia/South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar), Oceania, European countries mainly consisting of non-EU small economies or offshore financial centers, etc. These regions are mainly developing countries, emerging markets, and small economies, typically with a high demand for dollarization, strong demand for cross-border payments, a relatively relaxed regulatory environment, insufficient traditional financial infrastructure, or high inflation characteristics, and Stripe’s stablecoin accounts can provide low-cost, efficient payment and fund management solutions for these regions.

And countries or regions such as China, Hong Kong, the United States, core countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia, or due to strict regulatory requirements, mature financial markets, or geopolitical factors, have not yet been included in the list of supported countries.

Stripe’s encryption layout: from payment to ecosystem construction

Stripe’s layout in the field of cryptocurrency is not a one-time thing, but a long-term exploration and cultivation.

2014-2018: A Brief Attempt at Bitcoin Payments

In 2014, Stripe became the first major payment company to support Bitcoin payments, hoping that Bitcoin would become a global decentralized trading medium to solve the problem of low credit card penetration or high transaction costs.

In 2018, due to the long confirmation time, high fees, excessive volatility, and a declining willingness of customers to accept Bitcoin, as well as Stripe’s belief that Bitcoin has evolved to be more suitable as an asset rather than a means of exchange, it announced the termination of Bitcoin payment support.

Despite ending support for Bitcoin, Stripe remains optimistic about cryptocurrencies, indicating a focus on the Lightning Network, Stellar (in which Stripe made a seed investment), Ethereum, and other emerging technologies and faster payment methods.

2019-2021: Prudent Exploration

In 2019, Stripe briefly participated in Facebook’s Libra project (later renamed Diem), but withdrew due to regulatory pressure, demonstrating its cautious attitude towards the crypto field.

In 2021, Stripe formed a new encryption team aimed at formulating Stripe’s encryption strategy and promoting the integration of payments and Web3.

In November 2021, Paradigm co-founder and managing partner Matt Huang joined the board of directors of Stripe. Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison said at the time: ‘Few people understand cryptocurrency better than Matt, especially its potential for global internet companies.’

2022: Fully Re-entering the Cryptocurrency Market

In March 2022, Stripe launched a series of products aimed at providing customers with tools and APIs to make it easier to buy and store cryptocurrencies, convert them to cash, trade NFTs, and handle KYC and other compliance workflows. Stripe’s support page states that the company’s products will support users in 180 countries/regions to purchase over 135 cryptocurrencies with fiat currency.

In April 2022, Stripe added support for cryptocurrency to its programmatic (API-based) payment platform Connect, making Twitter the first platform to allow users to pay with cryptocurrency on this platform.

2024-2025: Accelerate stablecoin strategy

Stripe’s encryption ambitions accelerate significantly in 2024, focusing on stablecoins and consolidating its position in the Web3 payment field through acquisitions and product innovations.

• In April 2024, Stripe allowed customers to accept cryptocurrency payments, but initially only supported USDC stablecoin, covering Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.
• In October 2024, Paxos launched its new stablecoin payment platform, and Stripe was the first customer to use the new solution. Stripe’s Pay with Crypto product is supported by Paxos’s stablecoin payment infrastructure, enabling merchants to more easily accept stablecoin payments.
• In October 2024, Stripe acquired the stablecoin payment platform Bridge for $1.1 billion. Bridge is referred to as the Web3 version of Stripe.
• On April 30, 2025, Bridge partnered with Visa to launch a stablecoin card issuance product. Developers using Bridge’s API can now programmatically issue Visa cards related to stablecoin in multiple countries/regions. Both businesses and individuals can use their stablecoin balance for everyday shopping anywhere Visa is accepted. When cardholders make purchases, Bridge deducts funds from their stablecoin balance and converts it to fiat currency, enabling merchants to receive payments in local currency just like any other transaction.
• On May 7, 2025, at Stripe Sessions 2025, Stripe introduced stablecoin financial accounts. Stripe also announced an expanded partnership with the integrated financial operations platform Ramp, launching enterprise cards based on stablecoins and integrated expense management software, providing enterprises with faster settlement speeds, lower costs, built-in currency volatility protection, and seamless card issuance. Specifically, enterprises can fund Ramp wallets with local currency, then convert it to stablecoins, or directly deposit stablecoins. Cardholders only need to pay with local fiat currency, and merchants will receive fiat currency. Funds are held in equivalent to USD, avoiding depreciation of local currencies.

Future Outlook

From the early attempts with Bitcoin to the comprehensive layout centered around stablecoin financial accounts today, Stripe’s development in the crypto field has accelerated the integration of traditional finance and the crypto economy, driving the mainstreaming process of stablecoins.

By acquiring Bridge for $1.1 billion and launching stablecoin financial accounts covering 101 countries, Stripe has not only effectively addressed many pain points of cross-border payments but also provided important dollarization tools for emerging markets. Its strategic focus on the low-cost, high-efficiency characteristics of stablecoins, combined with Bridge’s technological advantages and Stripe’s global payment network, has solidified its leadership position in the crypto payment field.

With the gradual improvement of the regulatory framework for stablecoins by global financial regulatory agencies, and the increasingly open attitude of traditional financial giants such as Visa, stablecoins are moving from the edge to the mainstream. The stablecoin financial account launched by Stripe provides enterprises with a low-friction, high-efficiency global payment solution, promoting the global financial system to develop towards a more efficient, convenient, and inclusive direction.

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