Stripe said that it would facilitate all of the USDC transactions through Ethereum, Solana, and the Polygon blockchain networks and immediately convert them into fiat.
After dropping its Bitcoin payments facility six years back in 2018, payments giant Stripe is once again coming with a crypto payment facility for merchant payments. Stripe has announced that starting this summer, it would support transactions in Circle’s native stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).
Stripe to Integrate USDC Payments
Thus, within several weeks, Stripe would integrate stablecoin payments into the servicer’s checkout suite. As announced by Stripe, the company would immediately settle the USDC transactions in fiat. All the USDC transactions shall happen initially through Ethereum, Solana, and the Polygon blockchain networks.
As said, Stripe has a long history of facilitating crypto payments. Back in 2014, the payment processor started offering Bitcoin payments to its customers. However, it discontinued its services in 2018 stating that Bitcoin was highly volatile and serves the purpose of an asset instead of being the medium of exchange. Besides, Stripe also criticized Bitcoin’s growing fees and lengthy transaction times.
In the subsequent year, the fintech giant made moves to re-enter the market by joining as a co-founder of Facebook’s Libra project. However, it withdrew its support later that year, and the Libra initiative failed to materialize. In 2022, Stripe launched a project aimed at facilitating fiat-to-crypto payments. Speaking on the current development, Stripe co-founder and President John Collison said:
“We’re excited to announce that we’re bringing back crypto as a way to accept payments, but this time with a much better experience. 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.”
Stripe Expanding Its Global Reach
Stripe stated that it is excited to empower its users to accept stablecoin payments, which allows them to expand their global reach and offer convenient, swift, and reliable transactions to customers, even without a bank account or credit card.
Earlier this week on Wednesday, Stripe unveiled a long list of other launches. Another major update from Stripe is that, for the very first time, it would allow its customers to integrate competing payment providers and leverage Stripe’s other financial services tooling.
Remaining true to its disruptive origins in fintech, the company has aimed to play a central role in discussions concerning the impact of blockchain technologies on financial services. However, there’s a risk of undermining its core business and perception as a stable and prudent financial entity if it delves too deeply or extensively into periods of instability. Despite processing $1 trillion in transactions last year and continuing growth, its current valuation sits at $65 billion.
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