Stripe, a leading fintech company, has acquired Bridge, a stablecoin company, for $1.1 billion, its most significant acquisition to date. The action indicates that the payment provider is becoming increasingly involved in the cryptocurrency sector.
Two Coinbase alumni established Bridge with the objective of facilitating the acceptance of stablecoin payments by businesses. Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital contributed $58 million to the company’s valuation, according to Forbes. According to Michael Arrington, the proprietor of TechCrunch, the acquisition of Stripe has increased Bridge’s valuation to $1.1 billion, as disclosed on X (formerly Twitter). This is the most significant acquisition in the crypto industry to date.
Stripe was already conducting experiments with cryptocurrency payments in 2014. However, the startup came to the realization that bitcoin was not yet prepared for widespread adoption a few years later. Stripe became a founding member of Facebook’s stablecoin Libra (later Diem) in 2019. In order to facilitate global e-commerce, Stripe has consistently been receptive to new payment methods. Stripe and several of its main collaborators withdrew from the initiative. This was a result of regulatory pressure and other controversies. Stripe is re-entering the cryptocurrency market five years after its initial foray.
Stripe declared its intention to incorporate cryptocurrency payment options directly into its interface during a conference in April. This would provide consumers of significant corporations, including Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Google, and others, with access to new payment options. Stripe processed more than $1 trillion in transactions last year. This integration will be instrumental in the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency as a payment method. The acquisition of Bridge has the potential to expedite Stripe’s entrance into this market.
According to a letter to investors from Sequoia Capital, Bridge was processing an annualized payment volume of five billion USD as of August. Government agencies, including the US State Department and the US Treasury, as well as corporations like Coinbase and SpaceX, are among Bridge’s clients. Prior to establishing Bridge, the two entrepreneurs established Evenly, a competitor to Venmo, which they sold to Block in 2013. Stripe will now capitalize on their proficiency.
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