A decade after its early attempts to support bitcoin payments, the company is looking ahead to a future powered by stablecoins.
Payments processor Stripe has re-entered the cryptocurrency space after announcing today that it will soon allow merchants to receive funds in the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.
Starting this summer, the San Francisco-based company will allow companies using its technology to accept USD Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency space and the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, for online payments.
“We’re excited to empower Stripe users to accept stablecoin payments, helping them expand their global reach and enabling our customers to make simple, fast, and trusted transactions even if they don’t have a bank account or credit card,” John Egan, head of crypto at Stripe, said in a press release.
A Stripe spokesperson confirmed to the publication that USDC trading on the Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon networks will initially be supported, adding: “A final, more comprehensive list will be announced closer to launch.”
Stripe will initially support USDC transactions on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon networks, a Stripe spokesperson confirmed to the publication, adding that “a final, more comprehensive list will be announced closer to launch.”
Stripe became one of the first major companies to accept Bitcoin payments back in 2014. However, in 2018, Stripe shut down the payment option due to rising costs on the world's largest blockchain, and its cryptocurrency-related plans did not last.
Despite abandoning the service, the company said at the time that it remained "very bullish on cryptocurrencies overall."
Stripe re-engaged with the cryptocurrency space in March 2022 by making its payment platform available for NFT purchases and other Web3 companies, promising fraud prevention features such as Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. In addition, there were rumors that the company was working with Twitter on payment features last year. This suggests that Stripe is expanding its services to accommodate the growth of the cryptocurrency and Web3 sectors, while focusing on improving the security and compliance of transactions.
Stripe announced that it will allow merchants to accept USDC stablecoins for payments and settle transactions on-chain. Payments made with stablecoins will be automatically converted into fiat currency and deposited into the merchant's Stripe account, according to Stripe. This indicates that Stripe is expanding its payment services to support cryptocurrencies, especially the stablecoin USDC, which may provide merchants with faster and more flexible payment processing options. By automatically converting to fiat currency, Stripe also reduces the risk of merchants directly dealing with the volatility of cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold. They are designed to be less volatile than Bitcoin or other digital assets known for their price fluctuations. This feature makes stablecoins a more stable medium of exchange in the cryptocurrency market, especially when the market is volatile, they can be favored as a means of storing value or trading. The stability of stablecoins also makes them very useful in cross-border transfers and smart contract applications.
These stablecoins and tokens are often used by cryptocurrency traders to quickly enter and exit trading positions in other currencies or tokens without converting them directly into fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar - especially in situations where access to such currencies is restricted or prohibited. This feature of stablecoins provides traders with the convenience of being able to flexibly transfer funds between different cryptocurrencies while avoiding the additional costs and time delays that may be involved in traditional fiat currency conversions. In addition, stablecoins can also serve as hedging tools to help traders protect the value of their assets during times of market instability. #Stripe #加密支付
