Payments company Stripe is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.
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After a six-year hiatus, Stripe returned to cryptocurrencies in April, allowing merchants to accept stablecoins for online payments. According to statistics released by the payments giant, individuals from over 70 countries used the stablecoin for online transactions within 24 hours of its launch.
Bridge’s stablecoin-focused platform is designed to help businesses create, store, send, and receive stablecoins (Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC). The company raised $58 million in August from major investors including Sequoia, Ribbit, and Index Ventures.
After starting to support Bitcoin in 2014, Stripe retired the cryptocurrency, saying extreme price fluctuations and soaring fees made it unusable as a payment method.
Announcing its return to the market in April, Stripe co-founder and president John Collison said, “Cryptocurrencies are finding their true utility as transaction speeds increase and costs decrease.” “We see cryptocurrencies finally making sense as a medium of exchange.” ”
The company’s return has been rapid since then, signing an agreement with Coinbase for fiat-to-crypto trading using USDC in April and integrating with the Paxos stablecoin platform earlier this month.
