Payment processing giant Stripe is acquiring the stablecoin platform Bridge in a $1.1 billion deal, fulfilling its earlier commitment to enable stablecoin payments by "this summer."

“We’re thrilled to be joining forces with Stripe,” said Bridge CEO and co-founder Zach Abrams in an Oct. 21 post on X.

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison added on X, “Stripe is going to build the world’s best stablecoin infrastructure, and, to that end, we are delighted to welcome @stablecoin to @stripe.”

This acquisition marks the largest in Stripe's history.

The company, based in San Francisco and Dublin, was valued at $70 billion in July.

It is also set to become one of the biggest acquisitions in the cryptocurrency sector.

Stripe is a payment processing platform that enables businesses to accept online payments via credit cards, debit cards, and other methods.

In March, Stripe reported surpassing $1 trillion in total payment volume for 2023, with businesses using Stripe contributing about 1% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

This deal comes six months after co-founder John Collison announced that Stripe would start supporting global stablecoin payments “this summer.”

It also follows Stripe’s recent integration of stablecoin payments into its primary payments interface by adding Circle’s USDC.

Bridge is a stablecoin-based payments network founded in 2022 by former Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, aiming to compete with the SWIFT network and credit card systems.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/stripe-acquires-stablecoin-platform-bridge-techcrunch-founder

https://x.com/zcabrams/status/1848391342524641533

https://x.com/arrington/status/1848060479727435967

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/stripe-valuation-hits-70-billion-in-sequoia-deal/articleshow/111768971.cms?from=mdr

https://assets.ctfassets.net/fzn2n1nzq965/1gMd12owbzJaSe4Y560OEJ/d21e289c93952e70e964de8f0fa847c9/Stripe_2023_annual_letter.pdf

https://x.com/collision/status/1783559623511011535