Fintech giant Stripe spent $1.1 billion to buy Bridge, a company that helps businesses handle stablecoin payments. This purchase is an interesting turn for a company that once called cryptocurrency too risky for its platform.

Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison now sees stablecoins as the future of cross-border payments, despite his previous stance against digital currencies.

The move puts Stripe in an awkward position. The payment giant pulled away from Bitcoin in 2018, claiming it was too volatile and impractical for everyday transactions. Yet now, Stripe wants merchants to trust them with stablecoin.

This flip-flop raises questions about whether Stripe truly understands the crypto market or simply chases the latest trends.

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Early Bitcoin Adoption

Stripe jumped into the Bitcoin world back in 2014, becoming one of the first major payment companies to process Bitcoin payments.

The company believed cryptocurrency would revolutionize online payments and help more people around the world buy things online. They created special tools that let online stores accept Bitcoin, and many tech companies quickly signed up to use them.

Tech blogs praised Stripe for being forward-thinking, and cryptocurrency fans celebrated this move as proof that Bitcoin was going mainstream.

Growing Problems

Problems started popping up right away. Bitcoin’s network became slow and crowded. Customers had to wait several minutes or even hours for their payments to go through.

Transaction fees shot up from a few cents to sometimes $20 or $30 per purchase. Store owners grew frustrated as Bitcoin’s price swings turned simple sales into financial gambles. A $100 purchase could be worth $80 or $120 by the time the payment cleared.

Customer Complaints

Merchants started complaining to Stripe’s support team daily. Customers demanded refunds when Bitcoin prices dropped, while merchants lost money when prices rose.

The payment support team spent more time handling Bitcoin-related issues than helping customers with regular credit card payments. Small businesses particularly struggled with these problems, as they couldn’t afford to gamble on Bitcoin’s price changes.

The Final Decision

Stripe finally pulled the plug on Bitcoin in January 2018. They sent emails to all their Bitcoin customers saying the cryptocurrency had “evolved to become better-suited to being an asset than being a means of exchange.”

In simple terms, people were buying Bitcoin hoping its price would go up, not using it to buy things online. The company gave merchants three months to switch to regular payment methods before completely shutting down their Bitcoin service.

Aftermath

The decision proved right for Stripe. Bitcoin’s price crashed shortly after, falling from nearly $20,000 to under $4,000 by the end of 2018. Many other payment companies followed Stripe’s lead and dropped their Bitcoin support too.

This move helped Stripe focus on more reliable payment methods and grow into the $95 billion company it is today. Most importantly, it showed that Stripe values stability and reliability over jumping on trendy technology bandwagons.

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Stripe Stablecoin Pivot

Given Stripe’s history with bitcoin and cryptocurrency, the new investment into stablecoin is intriguing. But I wouldn’t bet on Stripe’s long-term support for the digital currency.

The Bridge Acquisition

Stripe shocked everyone by spending $1.1 billion the an acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin payment company, in February 2025. This marks Stripe’s biggest purchase since starting in 2010.

Bridge’s technology lets businesses handle stablecoin payments with just a few lines of code, making it easy for companies to accept digital dollars.

Market Size and Growth

Stablecoins processed $27.6 trillion in payments during 2024, beating both Visa and Mastercard’s combined volume. The total supply of stablecoins has grown to over $200 billion, and experts think it could reach $500 billion by the end of 2025.

This explosive growth proves that stablecoins have become a serious part of global payments.

Cross-Border Focus

Stripe sees stablecoins as a better way to move money around the world. Traditional international payments face high fees and slow processing times. Bridge’s technology helps Stripe offer instant, low-cost settlements through stablecoins.

This matters because stablecoins now cost just 1-2 basis points for cross-border transfers. This makes them the cheapest way to send money internationally.

Competition Heats Up

Major financial companies have noticed this trend. Robinhood and Revolut want to enter the stablecoin market, following PayPal’s successful launch of their own digital dollar.

Stripe’s move puts pressure on other payment companies to create new products or improve their existing services. The company’s massive customer base and global reach mean they could speed up stablecoin adoption across regular payment systems.

Future Implications

The stablecoin market keeps growing, with December 2024 alone seeing $5 trillion in transfers. Unlike Bitcoin’s problematic volatility, stablecoins offer the benefits of digital payments without the price swings.

This stability, combined with faster settlement times and lower costs, explains why Stripe now embraces the technology.

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The Contradiction

The above information about stablecoin’s growth is reassuring. However, it’s hard to ignore Stripe’s past with crypto. We also need to consider their very low tolerance for risk—something even likely stablecoins can’t meet.

The Risk Profile Paradox

Stripe’s embrace of stablecoins while rejecting Bitcoin reveals a fascinating contradiction in their risk assessment. Stablecoins face significant risks including market volatility, liquidity stress, and potential depegging from their underlying assets.

The TerraUSD collapse in May 2022 demonstrated how quickly a stablecoin can lose its value when market confidence falters.

Transaction Limitations

Both payment methods face practical challenges. Stablecoins operate primarily on the Ethereum blockchain. Here, transaction speeds remain slow and far from the real-time processing needed for point-of-sale or e-commerce transactions.

Transaction costs for stablecoins can actually exceed traditional payment methods. Some stablecoins even charge more than standard ATM or credit card fees.

Regulatory Uncertainty

Stablecoins operate in a largely unregulated space, creating potential risks for businesses that adopt them. Unlike Bitcoin’s established decentralized network, stablecoins rely on central issuers who control the reserves.

This centralization creates counterparty risk and exposure to regulatory actions that could disrupt the entire stablecoin ecosystem.

Market Stability Concerns

While Stripe views stablecoins as more stable than Bitcoin, evidence suggests stablecoins can be vulnerable during market stress. When global financial volatility increases, stablecoins often face selling pressure alongside other risky assets.

This challenges Stripe’s assumption that stablecoins offer significantly more stability than Bitcoin for payment processing.

Integration Complexity

Stablecoins operate across multiple blockchain networks, which theoretically offers more flexibility than Bitcoin’s single blockchain.

However, this interoperability creates additional technical complexity and security considerations that Stripe must address. The company’s previous experience with Bitcoin’s technical limitations suggests these challenges could prove significant.

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What Happens Next

Stripe’s acqusition of stablecoin platform Bridge shows a concerning pattern of chasing payment trends rather than maintaining consistent principles.

The company abandoned Bitcoin due to volatility and transaction issues. Yet now they embrace stablecoins despite their similar technical limitations and regulatory uncertainties. This move suggests Stripe cares more about capturing market share than addressing the fundamental challenges of cryptocurrency payments.

The payment industry should watch this development with skepticism. Stripe’s previous failure with Bitcoin provides valuable lessons about the risks of rushing into crypto-based payment solutions.

While stablecoins offer some advantages over traditional cryptocurrencies, they still face significant hurdles in becoming a reliable payment method. Time will tell if Stripe’s billion-dollar bet on Bridge pays off. But their contradictory approach raises serious questions about their long-term strategy and commitment to payment infrastructure and innovation.

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