TL;DR
- Future of Finance: Stripe co-founders champion stablecoins as a revolutionary upgrade to traditional money, offering faster, cheaper, and programmable transactions.
- Strategic Move: Reinforcing their vision, Stripe acquired stablecoin startup Bridge for $1.1B after processing $1.4 trillion in volume in 2024.
- Real-World Impact: Stablecoins are rapidly adopted for applications like corporate treasury, remittances, and payments, positioning them as a transformative financial tool.
Stripe, the global payments giant, has made a bold statement about the future of finance. In their annual letter, co-founders Patrick and John Collison declared stablecoins as one of the most innovative areas of the “internet economy.”
This announcement comes after Stripe processed a staggering $1.4 trillion in total volume in 2024, highlighting the company’s significant influence in the financial sector.
Strategic Acquisitions
To solidify their position in the stablecoin market, Stripe acquired stablecoin startup Bridge for $1.1 billion in October. This acquisition aligns with Stripe’s strategic vision of transforming digital payments and enhancing the usability of money.
The Collison brothers believe that stablecoins represent an improvement in the basic usability of money, much like the transition from coins to banknotes and from the gold standard to fiat currency.
Benefits of Stablecoins
The Collison brothers outlined four key properties of stablecoins that make them superior to traditional money: they make money movement cheaper and faster, they are decentralized and open-access, and they are programmable.
These attributes enhance traditional monetary functions and open new avenues for using money. The Collison brothers argue that improvements to the basic usability of money can make economies more prosperous.
Evolving Stance on Crypto
Stripe’s stance on cryptocurrency has evolved over time. The company halted Bitcoin payments in 2018 due to blockchain limitations but re-entered the crypto space in 2022 by enabling payouts in USDC.
This move expanded to allow customers to accept stablecoin payments on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon. The Collison brothers emphasized that the industry’s maturation, with faster transaction speeds and lower costs, drove their decision to embrace stablecoins.
Future Prospects
Looking ahead, the Collison brothers believe that stablecoins have the potential to deliver significant benefits to a wide range of participants. They highlight that stablecoin transaction volumes more than doubled between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024, with over 40 million monthly active wallets now in use.
Stablecoins are increasingly used for real-world applications, including corporate treasury management, remittances, and payments in regions with low card penetration. Stripe’s co-founders see stablecoins as a transformative force in the financial industry, poised to drive the next phase of growth and innovation.
