Payments Giant Stripe Reenters Crypto With USDC on Ethereum and Solana

Payments processor Stripe is back in the crypto game after announcing today that it would allow merchants to receive funds in the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin. 

Starting this summer, the San Francisco-based firm will let companies that use its technology accept USD Coin (USDC) for online payments. USDC is the second biggest stablecoin in the crypto space and the sixth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap. 

“We’re excited about empowering Stripe users to accept stablecoin payments, helping them expand their global reach and give their customers access to easy, fast, and trustworthy 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.

Stripe will support USDC transactions on the Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon networks, according to a TechCrunch report.

Back in 2014, Stripe became one of the first major companies to accept Bitcoin payments. Its crypto initiatives fizzled in 2018, however, when the company shuttered the option citing rising costs on the world's biggest blockchain.

Despite dropping the service, the company said at the time that it was still “very optimistic about cryptocurrencies overall.”

In March 2022, Stripe edged back toward the crypto space by making its payment platform available for NFT purchases and other Web3 companies, promising fraud prevention features like know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. Last year, the company was rumored to be working with Twitter on payment features.

Today, Stripe says that it will allow merchants to accept USDC and settle transactions on chain. Payments made in the stablecoin will automatically be converted into fiat for deposit into the merchant’s Stripe account, the company explained.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that have a value pegged to another asset, like dollars or gold. They are designed to be less volatile than Bitcoin or other digital assets that notoriously go up and down in price.

These coins and tokens are typically used by crypto traders to quickly enter and exit positions in other coins or tokens without converting them directly into a fiat currency like U.S. dollars—epecially when access to such currencies is either restricted or prohibited.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.