Stripe’s largest single acquisition ever catapults it into the Stable Coin world
Stripe has made headlines with its largest acquisition yet, purchasing stablecoin platform Bridge for an impressive $1.1 billion—over five times its previous valuation of $200 million. This strategic move aligns with Stripe’s goal to expand into the stablecoin market, enhancing global payment solutions. 🚀🤑
Bridge, co-founded in 2022 by former Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu specializes in facilitating stablecoin transactions for businesses. Their platform supports payments across more than 70 countries (including emerging markets) and has attracted notable clients, including SpaceX and various government entities.
Stripe’s Acquisition Highlights Bridge’s Investor-Backed Growth
Prior to the acquisition, Bridge was backed by prominent investors including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, and Haun Ventures. These firms supported Bridge through its Series A funding round, which raised $40 million to help build its stablecoin-based payment platform. LPs with positions in these funds will be delighted with the bumper hashtagDPI payout that should follow at some point for the VC funds.
The acquisition is a smart play for Stripe as it aims to capitalize on the growing demand for stablecoins, which offer faster and cheaper cross-border transactions compared to traditional methods. As Stripe processes over $1 trillion in payment volume annually, integrating Bridge’s technology could significantly enhance its service offerings. The company could prove particularly helpful for stripe in emerging markets!
This acquisition comes at a pivotal moment for the stablecoin sector, which has seen a surge in usage and interest from mainstream finance. It does appear that “Stablecoins have found their product market fit”. With some currencies loosing significant value acrosss the emerging markets over the last 5 years, it’s not surprising to see Stables take off. To name a few (in no order):
Venezuelan 🇻🇪 Bolivar ⬇️ 99.6% against USD
Argentine 🇦🇷Peso ⬇️ nearly 78% against USD
Lebanese 🇱🇧 Pound ⬇️ nearly 90% against USD
Pakistani 🇵🇰 Ruppee ⬇️ nearly 79% against USD
* while the numbers above may vary according to sources and have a variety of reasons from political mismanagement to fiscal irresponsibility the outcomes are the same. Ordinary people loosing value and their savings. Enter Stables. Important to note that crypto / stables are not even legal tender in some of these countries! The real value ofc will likely be payments!
With competitors like Visa and PayPal also entering the space, Stripe’s investment in Bridge positions it as a leader in the evolving landscape of digital currencies. It remains to be seen how these will play ball with country level plans to launch Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) which a number of countries are already working on.
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