Stripe Enters The Stablecoins Market By Acquiring Bridge For $1.1 Billion

Fintech giant Stripe, a big player in online payments, has announced that it has acquired Bridge, a startup that builds tools for stablecoins. The deal is worth about $1.1 billion. This purchase comes at a crucial time for digital money.

Big financial companies like Visa and SWIFT are now supporting stablecoins. Meanwhile, regulators all over the world are creating rules for stablecoin systems. This comes after PayPal launched its USD stablecoin in 2023 and Robinhood bought the cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in June this year..

Bridge Now Helps Governments Distribute Aid In Latin America

Bridge started two and a half years ago and has seen huge growth in its stablecoin business. Zach Abrams, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Bridge said on X that their business has grown over ten times this year. He also said they are now helping hundreds of developers from all over the world.

Bridge released its application programming interfaces (APIs) in March 2023, during a tricky time for digital assets. Zach stated that the firm first year was hard and that the digital asset space was in turmoil.

He said the team struggled to find partners and customers. After the launch, he noted that the firm quickly saw inbound interest from cross-border payments companies.

Since it started, Bridge has changed from just offering payment solutions to helping governments distribute aid in Latin America. The company also made Virtual Accounts, which let fintech businesses like Dolar App and Chipper Cash provide USD accounts and spending options to people all over the world.

Zach reported that the team was moving many billions in payment volume and that their products were giving millions of consumers and businesses more economic choices.

The deal comes as more big financial institutions are getting involved in digital money. According to reports, Visa and SWIFT are supporting stablecoins directly, and regulators around the world are working on rules to manage stablecoin systems.

Stripe’s Purchase Of Bridge Marks Its Entry Into Cryptocurrency

This purchase marks an important step into the cryptocurrency world for Stripe. The company was valued at $65 billion earlier this year. Stripe was founded in 2010 by brothers John and Patrick Collison and has become one of the most valuable private startups in the United States.

Bridge stated on X that stablecoins represented an entirely new payments platform and that realizing the potential of this platform would be a decades-long journey. The company also noted the need for money that could move across borders, be easily accessible to anyone, and be sent at almost no cost.

Bridge has also worked with big companies like SpaceX for global money management and has partnered with government bodies and financial tech firms. Zach added that each new use case was larger than all of those that came before it.