Stripe looks to build ‘world’s best stablecoin infrastructure’ after Bridge buy
Architect Partners’ Eric Risley tells Blockworks this deal is “the most important M&A transaction to date for our industry”
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison | Conor McCabe Photography/"DWS2012Thur-49.jpg" (CC license)
Payments company Stripe is set to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge in a deal the companies say will “accelerate the adoption and utility of tokenized dollars.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the coming months, Bridge noted in a Monday blog post.
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington reported the value of the deal to be $1.1 billion. A Stripe spokesperson declined to comment on the deal terms, and Bridge did not immediately return a request for details.
Read more: Stripe reintegrates crypto payments in the US
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said in an X post that his company seeks to build “the world’s best stablecoin infrastructure.”
Bridge launched its APIs in March 2023, Bridge co-founder Zach Abrams said in an X post. Though the company’s first year was “hard,” he added, it saw initial interest from cross-border payments companies and started to scale.
“After that, we had government entities onboard with us to disburse aid, fintechs build US dollar-based savings and spending products, SpaceX to manage their global treasury, and many others,” Abrams wrote.
Visa and SWIFT have since started to natively support stablecoins, Bridge noted in its Monday blog post.
Read more: Why Visa’s new stablecoin efforts could be a game-changer
“Policymakers across the globe are working to provide clarity and support for stablecoin infrastructure, recognizing the technology’s strategic importance for our financial system,” the company wrote. “And in the background, stablecoin adoption and usage have been rapidly accelerating.”
The market capitalization of stablecoins currently sits just above $170 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
Eric Risley, founding partner at advisory firm Architect Partners, said he believes this deal is “the most important M&A transaction to date for our industry.”
“This transaction is more evidence of the broadening recognition that stablecoin-based payments have compelling benefits and are being embraced by non-crypto companies,” he told Blockworks.
Those benefits include virtually instant settlement and very low fees, he added, which are particularly notable for cross-border payments between businesses and individuals.
“It’s hard to imagine a more fundamentally competitive move against the traditional banking system,” Risley said. “Payments at scale without a bank involved.”
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