Payments giant Stripe has finalized a $1.1 billion deal to acquire the stablecoin platform Bridge, per TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.
If the numbers are accurate, the deal is one of the largest takeovers in crypto history, exceeding other mammoth deals like investment firm CoinShares’ acquisition of Valkyrie Funds for $530 million in March 2024 and Robinhood’s purchase of crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in June 2024.
The purchase would also be the largest acquisition ever for Stripe, which is no stranger to acquisitions and was valued at $70 billion in July 2024.
Bridge doesn’t issue stablecoins, but provides a software platform that allows businesses to accept them as payments, and has said that it one day hopes to rival global payments networks such as Swift, Mastercard, and Visa.
Founded in 2022 by Coinbase alumni Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, the company claims to have processed an annual payment volume of $5 billion since launch according to its website, and that its clients include SpaceX.
The move comes as Stripe has been pushing into the world of stablecoin payments, after abandoning crypto support altogether six years ago, citing issues around transaction speeds and high costs.
Earlier this month the San Francisco-based firm introduced a new payment option, “Pay with Crypto,” that enabled businesses to accept USD Coin (USDC) payments from customers in more than 150 countries in partnership with stablecoin firm Paxos.
However, it is unclear whether the deal will see Bridge integrated into Stripe’s existing platform, or if Bridge will be operated separately.
Many other details about the deal are not yet available at the time of writing, such as any regulatory considerations and compensation for employees holding equity.
Neither company has yet to make an official statement on the deal. Decrypt has reached out to Stripe and Bridge for comment, and will update this story should they respond.
The deal comes shortly after Bridge raised $40 million in its Series A funding round in August 2024, with its investors including venture capital firms such as Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Index, and Haun Ventures.
Stripe’s crypto play
There have been other signs that Stripe is going “all-in” on crypto in 2024.
In April, the company launched an integration with the Avalanche Network ecosystem, meaning its native wallet, Core, would use Stripe’s fiat-to-crypto on-ramp.
Stripe also struck a deal to integrate Coinbase’s Layer 2 network Base into its crypto payout products in June 2024, which also gave Stripe users the ability to buy digital assets inside their Coinbase Wallet using Apple Pay or credit cards.
The news comes as more players from the world of traditional finance seem to be eyeing up an entrance into stablecoins; European banking giant Revolut and trading app Robinhood have teased the possibility of launching stablecoins so far in 2024.
