Fintech giant Stripe has signed a deal to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion.
This acquisition is the largest acquisition to date in the crypto industry.
Recorded $1.1 billion in transactions
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington revealed the news in a post on X, saying: 1.1 billion dollars. ”
Co-founded by Sean Yu and Zach Abrams, Bridge provides software tools that allow businesses to accept payments in stablecoins. The platform allows businesses to create, store, send, and receive such assets.
Zack Abrams previously served as head of consumer at Coinbase and founded peer-to-peer payments company Evenly, which was later acquired by Square. Before co-founding Bridge, Sean Yu held key engineering roles at leading companies such as Coinbase, Square, DoorDash, and Airbnb.
Earlier this year, the startup received $58 million in funding from notable investors including Sequoia, Haun Ventures, Ribbit, and Index Ventures. This included a $40 million Series A funding round that valued the company at $200 million, according to Forbes. This means that Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition represents a significant increase from Bridge’s previous value.
The company, founded in August, said in a statement that its mission is to address the fiscal challenges posed by local currencies in an interconnected global economy. Bridge aims to overcome these obstacles by leveraging stablecoins that offer faster, more affordable, and more accessible payment solutions.
Stripe’s growing focus on cryptocurrencies
Stripe, a payment processing platform that allows businesses to accept credit, debit, and other online payments, is actively expanding its presence in the cryptocurrency space.
Just six months ago, co-founder John Collison announced that the company would begin supporting global stablecoin payments. We realized this two weeks ago when we integrated Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) into our payments interface.
In June, the payment processing company also partnered with Coinbase. This introduced three new features, including the integration of the exchange’s base layer 2 network into its crypto payment products.
Stripe also integrated USDC on Base into its fiat-to-crypto transition, enabling fast conversion of fiat funds to crypto for U.S. customers. Coinbase has also agreed to include Stripe as a payment option for customers purchasing digital assets through Coinbase Wallet.
In March 2024, the company reported that total payment volume for that year exceeded $1 trillion, and businesses using the platform account for approximately 1% of global GDP.
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