After the $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, Stripe has launched another major initiative, targeting emerging markets with stablecoin financial accounts.
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
After spending $1.1 billion to acquire the stablecoin payment platform Bridge in October 2024, Stripe officially announced the launch of stablecoin financial accounts on May 8, aimed at providing global enterprises with more efficient and convenient cross-border payment and fund management solutions, further solidifying its position as a leader in global fintech.
So, what stablecoins does the Stripe stablecoin financial account actually support? What is the composition of its underlying assets? What countries or regions does its business coverage include? From the early exploration of Bitcoin payments to today's stablecoin strategy, what is Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field? This article will take you on a journey to find out.
According to the official Stripe documentation, stablecoin financial accounts allow users to hold USDC and USDB stablecoin balances and send and receive funds through stablecoins and traditional financial channels (such as ACH, SEPA, and wire transfers). This means that funds from the stablecoin balance can be transferred to external bank accounts or crypto wallets. If the recipient is an external bank account, the received amount will be automatically converted according to the current exchange rate, greatly enhancing the convenience and flexibility of fund circulation.
Stripe also revealed that it will gradually support more types of stablecoins in the account in the future. The technological support for this service comes from the Bridge platform that Stripe acquired last year. Bridge focuses on stablecoin infrastructure construction, which can help businesses seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency technology and provide assurance for the operation of Stripe's stablecoin financial account.
In the stablecoin custody layer, Bridge plays a key role. Currently, the Stripe stablecoin account supports USDC (issued by Circle) and the closed-loop stablecoin USDB issued by Bridge. It is worth noting that USDB is not publicly sold and is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. Its underlying assets consist of US dollars and BlackRock's short-term money market fund.
As Stripe executives mentioned at Stripe Sessions 2025, stablecoins can truly enable borderless finance. By comparing the payment transaction growth in the first two years of Stripe's establishment with that of Bridge, we can see that Bridge shows a more significant exponential growth trend, which indirectly confirms the huge potential of stablecoins.
In the API call information of the Bridge USDB documentation, I observed that USDB is located on the Solana blockchain, and Bridge is responsible for minting, burning, and holding stablecoin reserves.
It is worth mentioning that Bridge also supports the creation of 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 USDB and Bridge custom stablecoin holders. Rewards will be minted in the form of new tokens.
However, Bridge also stated in an update from a month ago that the Bridge stablecoin (USDB and custom stablecoins) currently supports the Solana and Base networks and will soon be launched on Polygon, Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum. At the same time, the Bridge stablecoin is always backed by a 1:1 equivalent value in US dollars. The underlying assets include short-term U.S. Treasury bills, overnight U.S. Treasury repurchase agreements, money market funds, and cash. This portfolio is held in a separate account to protect the rights of token holders and is custodied by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Apex Partners.
In terms of service coverage, currently, Stripe's stablecoin financial accounts are open for access to enterprise users in 101 countries or regions, primarily concentrated in Latin America, Africa, Asian countries with a focus on Central/South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar), Oceania, and European countries that are mainly small economies or offshore financial centers outside the EU. These regions are primarily developing countries, emerging markets, and small economies, often characterized by high dollarization demand, strong cross-border payment needs, a relatively relaxed regulatory environment, insufficient traditional financial infrastructure, or high inflation. Stripe's stablecoin accounts can provide low-cost and efficient payment and fund management solutions for these areas.
Countries or regions such as China, Hong Kong, the United States, core EU countries, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia are not yet included in the support list due to strict regulatory requirements, mature financial markets, or geopolitical factors.
Stripe's crypto layout: from payments to ecosystem building
Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field is not something that happened overnight, but rather the result of long-term exploration and deep cultivation.
2014-2018: Brief Attempts at Bitcoin Payments
In 2014, Stripe became the first major payment company to support Bitcoin payments, hoping that Bitcoin would become a global decentralized transaction medium to address the issues of low credit card penetration and high transaction fees.
In 2018, due to Bitcoin's long transaction confirmation times, high fees, excessive volatility, and a decline in customer willingness to accept Bitcoin, Stripe announced the termination of support for Bitcoin payments, believing that Bitcoin had evolved to be more suitable as an asset rather than a means of exchange.
Despite terminating support for Bitcoin, Stripe remains optimistic about cryptocurrencies, stating that it will focus on the development of emerging technologies and faster payment methods such as the Lightning Network, Stellar (in which Stripe was a seed investor), and Ethereum.
2019-2021: Prudent Exploration
In 2019, Stripe briefly participated in Facebook's Libra (later renamed Diem) project, but withdrew due to regulatory pressure, demonstrating its cautious attitude towards the cryptocurrency space.
In 2021, Stripe formed a new crypto team aimed at developing Stripe's cryptocurrency strategy to promote the integration of payments and Web3.
In November 2021, Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, joined the board of Stripe. Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, stated at the time: "Few people understand cryptocurrency better than Matt, especially its potential for global internet companies."
2022: Full Return to the Crypto Market
In March 2022, Stripe launched a series of products aimed at providing customers with the tools and APIs to more easily purchase and store cryptocurrencies, convert to cash, trade NFTs, and handle compliance workflows such as KYC. Stripe's support page states that the company's products will allow users to buy over 135 cryptocurrencies using fiat currency in 180 countries/regions.
In April 2022, Stripe added support for cryptocurrency in its programmatic (API-based) payment platform Connect, making Twitter the first platform to allow users to pay with cryptocurrency using this platform.
2024-2025: Accelerating the stablecoin strategy
Stripe's crypto ambitions will significantly accelerate in 2024, focusing on stablecoins and consolidating its position in the Web3 payment space through acquisitions and product innovation.
In April 2024, Stripe will allow customers to accept cryptocurrency payments, but initially only supports USDC stablecoin, covering Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.
In October 2024, Paxos launched its new stablecoin payment platform, with Stripe being the first customer to use the new solution. Stripe's Pay with Crypto product is powered by Paxos' 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 known as the Web3 version of Stripe.
On April 30, 2025, Bridge partnered with Visa to launch a stablecoin issuance product, allowing developers using Bridge to programmatically issue Visa cards related to stablecoins in multiple countries/regions through a single API integration. Businesses and individuals can use their stablecoin balances for everyday shopping wherever Visa is accepted. When cardholders make purchases, Bridge deducts funds from their stablecoin balances and converts them to fiat currency, enabling merchants to receive payments in local currency just like other transactions.
On May 7, 2025, at Stripe Sessions 2025, Stripe exited the stablecoin financial account. Stripe also announced an expanded partnership with the integrated financial operations platform Ramp, launching a corporate card based on stablecoin and integrated with expense management software, providing businesses with faster settlement speeds, lower costs, built-in currency volatility protection, and seamless card issuance. Specifically, businesses can fund their Ramp wallets with local currency and then convert it to stablecoin, or deposit stablecoin directly. Cardholders only need to pay with local fiat currency, and merchants will receive fiat currency. Funds are held in USD equivalent to avoid local currency depreciation.
Future Outlook
From the early attempts with Bitcoin to the current comprehensive layout centered around stablecoin financial accounts, Stripe's development in the crypto field has accelerated the integration of traditional finance and the crypto economy, and is promoting the mainstreaming of stablecoins.
With the acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion and the launch of stablecoin financial accounts covering 101 countries, Stripe has not only effectively addressed many pain points in cross-border payments but also provided an important dollarization tool for emerging markets. Its strategy focuses on the low cost and high efficiency characteristics of stablecoins, combined with Bridge's technological advantages and Stripe's own global payment network, laying a solid leadership position in the field of crypto payments.
With the gradual improvement of the regulatory framework for stablecoins by global financial regulators, and the increasingly open attitude of traditional financial giants such as Visa towards stablecoins, stablecoins are moving from the margins to the mainstream. The stablecoin financial account launched by Stripe provides businesses with a low-friction, high-efficiency global payment solution, promoting the global financial system towards a more efficient, convenient, and inclusive direction.
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The $1.1 billion acquisition is just the beginning! Stripe defines borderless finance with stablecoin financial accounts.
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
After spending $1.1 billion to acquire the stablecoin payment platform Bridge in October 2024, Stripe officially announced the launch of stablecoin financial accounts on May 8, aimed at providing global enterprises with more efficient and convenient cross-border payment and fund management solutions, further solidifying its position as a leader in global fintech.
So, what stablecoins does the Stripe stablecoin financial account actually support? What is the composition of its underlying assets? What countries or regions does its business coverage include? From the early exploration of Bitcoin payments to today's stablecoin strategy, what is Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field? This article will take you on a journey to find out.
Stripe stablecoin financial account: defining borderless finance
According to the official Stripe documentation, stablecoin financial accounts allow users to hold USDC and USDB stablecoin balances and send and receive funds through stablecoins and traditional financial channels (such as ACH, SEPA, and wire transfers). This means that funds from the stablecoin balance can be transferred to external bank accounts or crypto wallets. If the recipient is an external bank account, the received amount will be automatically converted according to the current exchange rate, greatly enhancing the convenience and flexibility of fund circulation.
Stripe also revealed that it will gradually support more types of stablecoins in the account in the future. The technological support for this service comes from the Bridge platform that Stripe acquired last year. Bridge focuses on stablecoin infrastructure construction, which can help businesses seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency technology and provide assurance for the operation of Stripe's stablecoin financial account.
In the stablecoin custody layer, Bridge plays a key role. Currently, the Stripe stablecoin account supports USDC (issued by Circle) and the closed-loop stablecoin USDB issued by Bridge. It is worth noting that USDB is not publicly sold and is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. Its underlying assets consist of US dollars and BlackRock's short-term money market fund.
As Stripe executives mentioned at Stripe Sessions 2025, stablecoins can truly enable borderless finance. By comparing the payment transaction growth in the first two years of Stripe's establishment with that of Bridge, we can see that Bridge shows a more significant exponential growth trend, which indirectly confirms the huge potential of stablecoins.
In the API call information of the Bridge USDB documentation, I observed that USDB is located on the Solana blockchain, and Bridge is responsible for minting, burning, and holding stablecoin reserves.
It is worth mentioning that Bridge also supports the creation of 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 USDB and Bridge custom stablecoin holders. Rewards will be minted in the form of new tokens.
However, Bridge also stated in an update from a month ago that the Bridge stablecoin (USDB and custom stablecoins) currently supports the Solana and Base networks and will soon be launched on Polygon, Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum. At the same time, the Bridge stablecoin is always backed by a 1:1 equivalent value in US dollars. The underlying assets include short-term U.S. Treasury bills, overnight U.S. Treasury repurchase agreements, money market funds, and cash. This portfolio is held in a separate account to protect the rights of token holders and is custodied by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Apex Partners.
In terms of service coverage, currently, Stripe's stablecoin financial accounts are open for access to enterprise users in 101 countries or regions, primarily concentrated in Latin America, Africa, Asian countries with a focus on Central/South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar), Oceania, and European countries that are mainly small economies or offshore financial centers outside the EU. These regions are primarily developing countries, emerging markets, and small economies, often characterized by high dollarization demand, strong cross-border payment needs, a relatively relaxed regulatory environment, insufficient traditional financial infrastructure, or high inflation. Stripe's stablecoin accounts can provide low-cost and efficient payment and fund management solutions for these areas.
Countries or regions such as China, Hong Kong, the United States, core EU countries, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia are not yet included in the support list due to strict regulatory requirements, mature financial markets, or geopolitical factors.
Stripe's crypto layout: from payments to ecosystem building
Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field is not something that happened overnight, but rather the result of long-term exploration and deep cultivation.
2014-2018: Brief Attempts at Bitcoin Payments
In 2014, Stripe became the first major payment company to support Bitcoin payments, hoping that Bitcoin would become a global decentralized transaction medium to address the issues of low credit card penetration and high transaction fees.
In 2018, due to Bitcoin's long transaction confirmation times, high fees, excessive volatility, and a decline in customer willingness to accept Bitcoin, Stripe announced the termination of support for Bitcoin payments, believing that Bitcoin had evolved to be more suitable as an asset rather than a means of exchange.
Despite terminating support for Bitcoin, Stripe remains optimistic about cryptocurrencies, stating that it will focus on the development of emerging technologies and faster payment methods such as the Lightning Network, Stellar (in which Stripe was a seed investor), and Ethereum.
2019-2021: Prudent Exploration
In 2019, Stripe briefly participated in Facebook's Libra (later renamed Diem) project, but withdrew due to regulatory pressure, demonstrating its cautious attitude towards the cryptocurrency space.
In 2021, Stripe formed a new crypto team aimed at developing Stripe's cryptocurrency strategy to promote the integration of payments and Web3.
In November 2021, Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, joined the board of Stripe. Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, stated at the time: "Few people understand cryptocurrency better than Matt, especially its potential for global internet companies."
2022: Full Return to the Crypto Market
In March 2022, Stripe launched a series of products aimed at providing customers with the tools and APIs to more easily purchase and store cryptocurrencies, convert to cash, trade NFTs, and handle compliance workflows such as KYC. Stripe's support page states that the company's products will allow users to buy over 135 cryptocurrencies using fiat currency in 180 countries/regions.
In April 2022, Stripe added support for cryptocurrency in its programmatic (API-based) payment platform Connect, making Twitter the first platform to allow users to pay with cryptocurrency using this platform.
2024-2025: Accelerating the stablecoin strategy
Stripe's crypto ambitions will significantly accelerate in 2024, focusing on stablecoins and consolidating its position in the Web3 payment space through acquisitions and product innovation.
Future Outlook
From the early attempts with Bitcoin to the current comprehensive layout centered around stablecoin financial accounts, Stripe's development in the crypto field has accelerated the integration of traditional finance and the crypto economy, and is promoting the mainstreaming of stablecoins.
With the acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion and the launch of stablecoin financial accounts covering 101 countries, Stripe has not only effectively addressed many pain points in cross-border payments but also provided an important dollarization tool for emerging markets. Its strategy focuses on the low cost and high efficiency characteristics of stablecoins, combined with Bridge's technological advantages and Stripe's own global payment network, laying a solid leadership position in the field of crypto payments.
With the gradual improvement of the regulatory framework for stablecoins by global financial regulators, and the increasingly open attitude of traditional financial giants such as Visa towards stablecoins, stablecoins are moving from the margins to the mainstream. The stablecoin financial account launched by Stripe provides businesses with a low-friction, high-efficiency global payment solution, promoting the global financial system towards a more efficient, convenient, and inclusive direction.