Payments giant Stripe has acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for a total amount of $1.1 billion, more than 5x its $200 million valuation, according to an Oct. 21 annnouncement.
The acquisition is part of Stripe’s plan to enter the stablecoin market. The announcement said the firms will focus on growing the adoption of stablecoins to make money easier to move, store, and spend globally.
Forbes first reported rumors of the deal on Oct. 17. Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and venture capital fund Arrington Capital, later corroborated the reports and revealed that the deal was closed on October 20.
On Aug. 29, Bridge received $58 million in a private fundraising round with the participation of Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, and Haun Ventures, according to data from DefiLlama.
Bridge offers infrastructure to issue and move tokenized money on different blockchains. The platform has also supported government initiatives and counts SpaceX, Coinbase, and Stellar among its clients.
The stablecoin platform noted in its announcement that Stripe shares its view that stablecoins can have a profound impact globally and added:
“Stablecoins solve critical financial problems by making money easier to move, more economical to hold, and cheaper to send. This isn’t about ‘crypto’—it’s about solving real-world problems in a globalized economy.”
Meanwhile, Stripe processed over $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023, growing by 25% in one year. Additionally, Stripe is the second largest payment processing technology, with a 17% market share, according to Statista’s data.
Nic Carter, partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of Coinmetrics, commented that the Bridge acquisition by Stripe will “turbocharge” the stablecoin space. He added that generalist venture capital funds that quit crypto will pivot back to the market.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, agreed with Carter’s remarks:
“Let’s do this!”
Stablecoins gaining the mainstream
The acquisition comes at a pivotal time for stablecoins, which have gained steam in recent months.
According to a16z’s report “State of Crypto 2024,” stablecoins amounted to $8.5 trillion in transaction volume in the second quarter, and they represent 32% of all crypto usage activity.
Moreover, the report highlighted that this is more than double Visa’s $3.9 trillion registered in the same period.
Despite being popular in crypto, stablecoins started penetrating mainstream finance. Revolut is rumored to launch its stablecoin and Visa announced a platform to help banks issue their fiat-backed tokens.
Furthermore, Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank revealed it embraced the usage of stablecoins to process cross-border payments.