Fintech giant Stripe is planning to acquire the stablecoin network Bridge which was founded by Sean Yu, a Coinbase engineer. As per Bloomberg, the crypto company might be attempting to re-enter the stablecoin market with this deal.
The Texas-based crypto platform Bridge is in its own league. The company made a mark in the cryptocurrency works by allowing merchants to use and manage stablecoin tokens USDC and USDT. This includes high-profile clients like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Stripe and Stellar.
In recent times, investors like Index, Ribbit and Sequoia have invested in Bridge, taking its funding to $58 million. This solidified the platform's position in the stablecoin payment network arena.
The acquisition is in line with Stripe’s aim to find its footing in the crypto market which started in 2022 when the fintech company allowed USDC payments on Polygon. At that time, Twitter was its first customer. In 2024, Stripe further made its intention clear by enabling USDC stablecoin payments on Polygon, Ethereum and Solana networks.
Furthermore, the Bridge acquisition deal is happening at a time when the stablecoin landscape is evolving for the better as seen in $126 billion stablecoin supply in September 2023. Most of this was USDC and USDT tokens. This phenomenon sparked the curiosity of regulators and financial players
Stripe's interest in Bridge comes on the heels of its recent integration with Paxos' stablecoin network, becoming the first payment service provider (PSP) to incorporate Paxos' enterprise-grade infrastructure. This series of moves suggests a calculated strategy by Stripe to position itself at the forefront of stablecoin payment network innovation.
Even after the 2022 TerraUSD collapse the stablecoin market is growing at a steady rate courtesy of fintech innovation. This is visible in the success of issues like Tether making a $5.2 billion profit in the 2023 first half which has further increased interest in the stablecoin market.
Similar stablecoin payments network expansion is observed in other players like Visa and Robinhood who are launching their own Stablecoins. Meanwhile, Ripple Labs, a major blockchain player, has rolled out plans to release its own stablecoin RLUSD by the end of 2024. This increased competition could drive further innovation and adoption of stablecoin technologies.