After a six-year hiatus, Stripe is re-entering the crypto space, enabling merchants to accept stablecoins for online payments.
Initially, Stripe supported Bitcoin in 2014 but later discontinued its crypto services due to extreme price volatility and high transaction fees that made it impractical for payments.
During the company’s Global Internet Economy conference, President John Collison announced, “We’re excited to bring back crypto as a way to accept payments, but this time with a much better experience.” Merchants will soon be able to accept stablecoin payments, starting this summer, though the initial offering will be limited to Circle’s USDC on the Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon blockchains.
Collison emphasized, “Crypto is finding real utility. With transaction speeds increasing and costs coming down, we’re seeing crypto finally making sense as a means of exchange.”
For more information, you can join the waitlist and watch a demo of the new feature.