Stripe allegedly purchases Bridge a stablecoin platform in a deal worth 11 billion

Payments giant Stripe has successfully acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in a deal worth over $1 billion. The news was confirmed by Michael Arrington, co-founder of TechCrunch, who revealed that the acquisition cost Stripe $1.1 billion. However, neither company has made an official statement about the purchase yet. Last week, it was reported that Stripe and Bridge were in the final stages of negotiation, but no decision had been made at the time. Bridge, founded in 2022 by former Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, enables the creation, transfer, and storage of stablecoins. This acquisition comes after Bridge raised $40 million in funding in August. For Stripe, the move aligns with its plans to expand its services in the crypto sector. The company initially introduced Bitcoin payments in 2014 but discontinued the offering in 2018. However, in 2024, Stripe’s president John Collison announced the company’s re-entry into the crypto sector with stablecoin payments, citing increased demand for blockchain-based alternatives. Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to stable assets, such as the U.S. dollar, to avoid the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. They are suitable for day-to-day transactions due to their stable value. Stripe recently started accepting Circle’s USDC stablecoin, allowing merchants across 70 nations to initiate fiat-settled stablecoin payments. The acquisition of Bridge comes at a time when stablecoin usage is surging, with the market capitalization reaching nearly $170 billion in Q3 2024. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicts that the market could reach $3 trillion by 2030. Traditional financial platforms have also entered the stablecoin market, with Visa launching a platform for banks to issue fiat-backed stablecoins, and PayPal introducing its own stablecoin called PayPal USD.