Stripe Plans To Test Its Own Stablecoin Because Why Not?

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Ah, Stripe. You know them – they’re the payments giant that makes sending money around the world look so effortless, like making a sandwich, only without the risk of accidentally slathering mayo on your face. Well, they’ve decided that testing their very own stablecoin is the next logical step in their never-ending quest for world domination, or something like that.

Jennifer Lee, Stripe’s very own Crypto Product Overlord, dropped the bombshell announcement on Friday. She’s asking companies outside the US (because, you know, the US companies are already pretty good at this whole money thing) to get in touch if they’re, and I quote, “interested in dollar access.” You know, just in case you haven’t figured out how to access a dollar on your own. 😊

This new coin will be powered by Bridge, a stablecoin startup that Stripe casually acquired in February. Because who doesn’t want to buy a stablecoin startup just to spice up their portfolio?

And, just to keep things interesting, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s CEO and chief visionary, says they’ve “wanted to build this product for around a decade.” Yes, a whole decade. The man has been dreaming about stablecoins longer than most people dream about pizza. If only he’d shared this vision sooner – perhaps he could’ve made a fortune selling stablecoin-flavored ice cream?

Patrick and his brother, John Collison (Stripe’s co-founder and the person who probably said “Hey, let’s throw a stablecoin into the mix!”), wrote in the firm’s annual letter that stablecoins are the future of money. Well, money and time travel, because this sounds like it could be straight out of a sci-fi novel.

“Improvements to the basic usability of money make economies more prosperous. Consider the transitions from coins to banknotes, from the gold standard to fiat currency, and from paper instruments to electronic payments. Stablecoins are a new branch of the money tree. Such transitions occur with some regularity over the centuries, and the effects tend to be large.”

Well, if that doesn’t make you feel like you’re part of history in the making, I don’t know what will. Seriously, just wait for the T-shirts commemorating the day Stripe launched its stablecoin.

Stripe’s return to the crypto world wasn’t a quiet one either. Last October, they decided to sprinkle a little crypto fairy dust over the Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Polygon (POL) blockchains by supporting USDC settlements. Because nothing says “We’re back” like blockchain magic.

But let’s not forget the past. Stripe used to be cool with Bitcoin (BTC) back in the day. But in 2018, they cut ties with BTC, citing its lack of utility as a payments rail. Ouch. I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to use a square peg in a round hole.

Fast forward to 2024, and Stripe is doing just fine, thank you very much. Their total payment volume surged to a mind-boggling $1.4 trillion, which represents 1.3% of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP). That’s right, Stripe is now literally part of the global economy. Well, it was nice knowing the rest of us.

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2025-04-26 20:01