Original title: “Stripe Acquires Bridge for $1.1 Billion.”
Author: Yash Agarwal
Editor: Deep Tide TechFlow
Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1 billion. Even if you’ve never heard of it, let us explain why this company is worth your attention.
First, Stripe is investing heavily in the stablecoin space
—— Stripe co-founder demonstrated how to accept stablecoins on @solana via @phantom earlier this year.
—— They have launched the ability to pay and receive cryptocurrencies. This means that all merchants in the US can accept stablecoins like USDC and settle in dollars.
Even during bear markets, stablecoin trading volumes continue to increase, coupled with support from efficient blockchains like Solana/Base, giving confidence in the market adaptability of stablecoins. Masu.
These would become some of the most iconic statements in financial history.
“Stablecoins are the room temperature superconductor of financial services.”
Why did Stripe choose stablecoins?
Stripe is currently just a payment gateway that relies on networks like Visa and Mastercard.
—— There will be an additional charge of about 1-3%
—— Depends on banks and local partners
—— Low approval rate
Stablecoins can eliminate all intermediaries, giving Stripe control over the entire technology stack.
However, to allow Stripe to control your stablecoin technology stack, you must build:
—— On/Off Ramp (Fiat to Cryptocurrency Conversion)
—— Issuing stablecoins (e.g. Tether makes $10 billion a year)
—— Complex stablecoin infrastructure (over 20 blockchains, over 10 stablecoins, etc.)
You can spend years building these or achieve them directly through acquisition.
Introduction to the bridge
Bridge was founded in 2022 by two successful entrepreneurs (their previous company was acquired by Square), and the founding team includes former Brex Chief Product Officer @zcabrams and Airbnb Engineer Sean. Ta.
Their vision is to create different types of stablecoin APIs.
Initially, they operated by helping businesses accept stablecoin payments and build stablecoin infrastructure (similar to Stripe’s approach in traditional finance).
In 2023, they secured a private seed funding round (estimated at approximately $18 million led by Sequoia).
Over the past two and a half years, they have developed the following APIs:
—— Orchestration (on/off ramp conversion, i.e. converting any form of dollar to another, such as converting USDC to USD in Solana)
—— Issuance (stablecoin minting and reserve investment)
They have completed over $5 billion in transaction value for the following clients:
Stablecoin fintech applications such as @getdolarapp (virtual account provided by Leeds Bank)
Global financial operations (e.g. @SpaceX and the US government)
Payment services (such as @scale_AI making payments to contractors)
These support many on/off ramps and cryptocurrency card operations.
Who are their competitors?
there are many!
@ZeroHashX (large scale but unreliable)
@Brale_xyz and @Paxos (stablecoin issuance, Paxos helps PayPal issue PYUSD)
@CoinflowLabs
and vendors providing on/off ramp and stablecoin infrastructure.
Why Bridge?
—— API prioritization. Integration with Stripe’s technology stack
—— Acquisition of a potential competitor (e.g. consolidation of stablecoin fintech companies planning to disrupt Stripe)
—— Offering complementary products (financial services with stablecoin issuance, BaaS with cryptocurrency acceptance, etc.)
—— Share a common investor: Sequoia and tech founders in San Francisco
—— Use a concise social media username @stablecoin
Thanks to @gizmothegizzer for his contribution
So why spend $1.1 billion?
The main reason is that they have a strong team (founders who have held leadership roles or worked at top startups such as Airbnb, Brex, Coinbase, Square, etc.), which makes them a great choice for “Stripe’s Crypto He is the perfect candidate to lead “Infrastructure.”
Licenses, Products, Market Attractiveness, Customer Base
I think this transaction will be primarily stock-based rather than cash-based.
From a strategic perspective, acquiring Bridge will enable us to:
—— Compete faster with crypto-friendly giants like BlackRock, Revolut, and PayPal
—— Provides 24/7 operations worldwide. Breaking through the limitations of localized payment systems (Stripe faces major challenges as it expands into long-tail markets such as Asia and Latin America)
What’s next for stripes? My guess:
→ Continue to support on/off ramps and cryptocurrency acceptance while learning Bridge’s API
→ Deepen the development of stablecoin infrastructure (allow global fintech companies to issue stablecoins, and in some cases issue their own stablecoin STUSD for full control of the ecosystem) possible)
→ Advocate for stablecoin payments and ensure that all convenience stores accept stablecoins
As a stablecoin enthusiast, I believe this is good news for the crypto market.
—— This is the largest crypto acquisition in history (more M&A activity expected)
—— This is also Stripe’s biggest acquisition (showing its grand vision for cryptocurrencies)
Will this be a historically great acquisition like Instagram and really boost the internet’s GDP?
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