When Stripe holds stablecoins and wallet infrastructure, launching its own L1 seems like a natural progression.
Written by: 100y.eth, Director of Research at Four Pillars
Translation by: Luffy, Foresight News
Key Points
There are rumors circulating in the cryptocurrency community that Stripe may launch its own L1 network. Given that the next step recently acquired Bridge and Privy, launching its own blockchain may be a natural next step.
Stripe is a leading global payment service provider (PSP) that plays a key role in connecting merchants, acquiring institutions, card networks, and issuing banks, ensuring smooth and secure transactions.
If Stripe does launch the L1 network, the basic expectation is to support stablecoin usage and integrate Stripe L1 into customer payments and merchant settlements. In an optimistic scenario, it could completely transform the payment system, enabling the following functionalities: 1) Direct payments bypassing issuing institutions and networks; 2) Achieving micropayments that were previously impossible in traditional systems; and 3) Generating returns on short-term deposit balances held on the Stripe L1 platform.
While Stripe currently mainly acts as a payment gateway and acquiring institution, the potential Stripe L1 would allow the company to take on roles traditionally held by issuing banks and card networks. This would mark a significant milestone in the history of the payment industry.
1. Will Stripe really launch L1?
Image content translation: There are rumors that they (Stripe) will launch L1, instead of following Robinhood to launch L2. This has not been officially confirmed, but I have learned about this from multiple sources. Source: Twitter user @ayyyeandy
Rumors say that Stripe, the global payment infrastructure company, will be the next large fintech company to launch its own chain; another rumor stems from Paradigm's recent secret recruitment for a portfolio project, with speculation that this is Stripe L1.
No one outside the insiders can confirm whether Stripe will launch L1. However, given the recent surge of interest in blockchain and stablecoin industries from the traditional financial sector in the U.S., along with the increasing blockchain integrations by credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard, and Robinhood's announcement of plans to tokenize stocks via Arbitrum, the rumors about Stripe launching L1 are enough to attract community attention.
Stripe's mission is to enhance the GDP of the internet. The company is committed to building global economic infrastructure to help businesses of all sizes (from startups to large enterprises) manage online payments, operations, and growth. From this perspective, blockchain is an extremely attractive technology for Stripe.
In fact, Stripe has been actively expanding its blockchain-related business. In February 2025, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for about $1.1 billion, strategically strengthening its position in the stablecoin-based financial infrastructure space. Building on this, Stripe launched the 'Stablecoin Financial Accounts' service at the Stripe Sessions event in May 2025.
This service covers 101 countries/regions globally, enabling businesses to:
Hold USDC issued by Circle and USDB issued by Bridge
Deposit and withdraw stablecoins via ACH for USD transactions and SEPA for Euro transactions
Deposit and withdraw USDC on blockchains such as Arbitrum, Avalanche C-Chain, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Solana, and Stellar
This means that businesses in 101 countries can easily access dollar stablecoins through Stripe and seamlessly integrate with traditional banking systems for convenient dollar deposits, withdrawals, and payments.
In addition, in June 2025, Stripe acquired the Web3 wallet infrastructure startup Privy, which offers features like wallet creation via email or single sign-on (SSO), transaction signing, key management, and gas abstraction.
Based on these actions, rumors about Stripe potentially launching L1 to expand its blockchain business are not without foundation. That is to say, Stripe now has stablecoin infrastructure and wallet infrastructure, so launching a blockchain network that can synergize with them may be a natural next step.
2. What would happen if Stripe launched the L1 network?
Of course, whether Stripe will launch the L1 platform is still unconfirmed, and it remains a rumor for the moment. However, we can speculate on how Stripe might apply its own L1 platform if it truly launches, and what previously impossible services it could achieve. The following ideas are purely personal imagination and should not be taken too seriously, serving as inspiration for 'How blockchain can be used in payment services.'
2.1 Role of Stripe as a Payment Service Provider
To understand what improvements blockchain can bring, it is first necessary to understand the types of services Stripe offers. Stripe is the most well-known PSP (Payment Service Provider). PSP serves as a technological bridge between merchants, acquiring institutions, card networks, and issuing banks, ensuring smooth and secure payments. Specifically, Stripe plays the following roles:
Payment Gateway: When customers make card payments online or offline, Stripe securely collects card information, encrypts it, and then transmits it to the card networks and issuing banks.
Supports multiple payment methods: It integrates various payment options, including credit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and local payment methods for customers and merchants.
Fraud detection and security: It uses machine learning-based fraud detection and security standards (such as PCI-DSS compliance) to prevent fraudulent transactions.
Multi-currency and international payment support: Facilitates international sales through automatic currency conversion.
Reporting and analytics: It provides merchants with detailed insights into transaction history, success rates, and customer behavior to help optimize business operations.
Technical integration and operational support: Helps businesses easily build payment systems through APIs and SDKs, and manage customer support, compliance, refunds, and billing.
Enhanced customer experience: Provides a fast and smooth payment process, supporting various scenarios such as subscription billing, installment payments, and refunds.
Merchant settlement intermediary: PSP collaborates with acquiring institutions or acts as an acquiring institution itself to settle funds received from issuing banks to merchants.
Without payment service providers today, merchants would have to support various payment methods on their own and undergo the complicated process of direct contracts with acquiring institutions. This would severely impact the experience of both merchants and customers.
2.2 What changes can Stripe L1 bring?
If Stripe does launch the L1 platform, how will it improve existing services? What new features can it bring? I propose the following thoughts:
2.2.1 Benchmark Case
Integration of merchant stablecoin financial accounts with Stripe L1
Stripe currently provides stablecoin financial accounts to merchants in 101 countries, enabling them to hold USDC and USDB stablecoins and deposit or withdraw them through traditional banking systems (ACH, SEPA, etc.) and various blockchain networks.
If Stripe L1 officially goes live, it is expected that the stablecoin financial account service will also support deposits and withdrawals through Stripe L1. Additionally, merchants can use the stablecoins they hold on Stripe L1 for various financial activities.
Merchant's Stablecoin Settlement Options
As a payment service provider, Stripe can collaborate with acquiring institutions or settle merchants' sales revenues on its own. If Stripe L1 goes live, merchants may choose to settle using dollar-pegged stablecoins. This would undoubtedly be a significant benefit for merchants who have strong demand for dollars but limited access channels.
Provide wallet services to customers
The Privy company acquired by Stripe provides infrastructure that makes it easy for users to create and use wallets. Although Stripe primarily serves merchants and businesses and has not yet provided wallet services to individual users, if Stripe L1 utilizes Privy's infrastructure, it could help individual users easily create Web3 wallets on Stripe L1, use stablecoins for payments, and participate in various financial activities within the Stripe L1 ecosystem.
Provide customers with stablecoin payment options
Currently, customers making online payments through Stripe are limited to credit cards, bank accounts, and other conventional payment methods. If Stripe L1 is officially launched, it may allow users to link Web3 wallets (potentially provided by Stripe or third parties) and choose stablecoins as a payment method.
2.2.2 Optimistic Case
Direct payments between customers and merchants
When customers use traditional payment systems like credit cards or bank accounts, they inevitably rely on traditional financial networks like card networks and banks. However, if Stripe L1 allows customers to pay merchants directly with stablecoins, it could eliminate the need for issuing banks and card networks, significantly increasing settlement speed and reducing costs. Of course, since payments settled on the blockchain are harder to cancel or refund, appropriate safeguards need to be put in place.
Subscription services based on micro-payments
Blockchain can support micropayments and streaming payment subscriptions that traditional systems cannot achieve. Most of Stripe's current subscription services adopt a monthly or yearly renewal model, while Stripe L1 could enable billing by the minute. Users would pay strictly based on actual usage, with all payments automatically completed through smart contracts. This would represent a new subscription model, opening the door to building various service products on this basis.
DeFi applications of short-term deposits
One reason for the delayed settlement in current payment systems is to deal with issues like fraud, cancellations, or refunds. Therefore, even if Stripe L1 allows customers to pay merchants directly with stablecoins, funds are likely to be temporarily held in Stripe L1 rather than immediately released to the merchant.
These short-term deposits are expected to be substantial and could serve as a massive liquidity pool for Stripe L1. For example, these funds could provide liquidity for DeFi protocols, used in lending markets, or invested in bonds to earn interest, thus significantly enhancing capital efficiency.
3. Final Thoughts
After long-term research on stablecoins and observing their industry and ecosystem, I find the rumors about Stripe about to launch L1 indeed intriguing. So far, payment companies like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal have regarded blockchain and stablecoins as added features. If Stripe truly launches L1, it could mark a historic moment, signaling the beginning of a paradigm shift in the payment system.
While Stripe has so far played the role of a payment gateway or acquiring institution, the launch of Stripe L1 could allow it to simultaneously take on the roles of card networks and issuing banks. Furthermore, it could enhance payment efficiency through blockchain and enable functionalities that were previously impossible, such as micropayment subscriptions and automated management of short-term deposits.
We are in an era of disruptive innovation driven by blockchain payment systems. Whether Stripe will actually launch L1 as rumored remains to be seen.