Stripe's journey through crypto is so fascinating. They have not been permabulls, but rather, truth-tellers. The fact that a good chunk of their annual letter is now devoted to stablecoins tells you something important.
A history:
2014: Becomes first major payments company to support bitcoin payments.
2018: Ends bitcoin payments due to high fees and lack of adoption; exits crypto.
2022: Reverses course, declares "crypto is going mainstream."
2024: Turns on stablecoin payments for online retailers.
2025: Acquires Bridge, a leading stablecoin infrastructure provider.
2026: Says AI agents will be responsible for "most internet transactions" and that those transactions will be blockchain-based.
