Stripe, a US-headquartered payment processing firm, has sealed the acquisition deal for Bridge, a fintech startup specialising in moving money using stablecoins like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, by paying $1.1 billion, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington confirmed. However, the companies are yet to make an official statement.
Largest Crypto Deal to Date
The $1.1 billion price tag makes this the largest acquisition in the cryptocurrency space to date. Other recent major industry deals include CoinShares’ acquisition of Valkyrie Funds for $530 million and Robinhood’s purchase of Bitstamp for $200 million.
The confirmation of Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge came only a couple of days after a Bloomberg report revealed that the two companies were in advanced talks. However, the report highlighted that nothing was final, and either party could back out. This became obsolete with Arrington’s confirmation.
Bridge enables businesses to accept payments from anywhere using stablecoins and supports payments from more than 70 countries. The startup raised $40 million in its last Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $58 million. Its backers include Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Index, and Haun Ventures, some of the top venture capital firms globally.
Stripe Strengthens Crypto Presence
For Stripe, which is valued at $70 billion, the acquisition follows its move to enable crypto payments for US businesses.
Although Stripe’s plans for Bridge remain unclear—whether it will allow the crypto startup to operate independently or integrate its services within Stripe’s platform—it is evident that the deal will allow the payments giant to expand its presence in the stablecoin ecosystem.
Crypto is back. @Stripe will start supporting global stablecoin payments this summer. Transactions instantly settle on-chain and automatically convert to fiat. Join the waitlist https://t.co/hws2OsU3Id and watch the demo (h/t @Solana) from Sessions. pic.twitter.com/zGKYW2FM6i
— John Collison (@collision) April 25, 2024
Interestingly, other established fintechs like Revolut and Robinhood are also considering launching their own stablecoins. While the approach of these companies and Stripe towards stablecoins differs, it highlights the sector's growing appeal, especially after the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in the European Union.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
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