Author: James da Costa & Sam Broner, a16z crypto; Translator: Jinse Finance xiaozou
In February this year, Stripe completed the acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin platform - the largest acquisition in the company's history. Previously, Stripe had reopened cryptocurrency payment services to U.S. businesses last year. From a broader perspective, after years of stablecoin growth, this acquisition marks the first public acknowledgment by the payment industry that stablecoins are moving towards the mainstream. In 2024, stablecoin settlement amounts will reach $15.6 trillion, with transaction volumes on par with Visa.
What are stablecoins? Stablecoins are crypto assets pegged to the value of fiat currency (usually the U.S. dollar). The most common "fiat-backed stablecoins" (such as USDC issued by Circle) are fully backed 1:1 by short-term U.S. Treasury bonds and bank deposits.
Over the past year, stablecoins have seen significant adoption in the following regions: countries with volatile local currencies (such as Nigeria and Argentina); areas with high cross-border remittance costs (such as Colombia); and markets with low international credit card acceptance (such as Pakistan). Stablecoins enable users to: store asset value in U.S. dollars; make fast and cheap global transfers; and spend on international websites that support stablecoins (when local bank card payments are not applicable).
From street-side shops to multinational enterprises can benefit from stablecoins. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison compared it to a "room-temperature superconductor for financial services" on Twitter, predicting that "global enterprises will enjoy the speed, coverage, and cost advantages of stablecoins in the coming years". As a developer-first payment company (similar to Stripe's philosophy), Bridge enables stablecoin conversion in any U.S. dollar format through a single API, primarily providing three main services:
Fund Scheduling: Developers can transfer, store, and receive stablecoins with just a few lines of code, with Bridge handling all compliance requirements and technical complexities.
Issuance Services: Developers can create their own stablecoins within minutes, with Bridge investing reserve funds in U.S. Treasury bonds and sharing revenues with developers.
Global Remittance: Providing cross-border transfers and U.S. dollar/Euro account services for developers' end-users.
Current application cases include: Starlink repatriating funds from Argentina through Bridge; Nigerian users paying for YouTube Premium and ChatGPT with stablecoins; U.S. small businesses receiving payments from global customers.
This acquisition aligns with Stripe's mission to "expand the total volume of the internet economy". Specifically, stablecoins bring a double advantage to Stripe: first, in regions with weak payment infrastructure (markets where Stripe has limited coverage), stablecoins can reduce cross-border costs, decrease transaction failure rates, and improve conversion rates; second, providing merchants with more economical payment options compared to credit cards. Stripe's processed amount grew 38% to $1.4 trillion in 2024, and Bridge's addition is expected to drive a new round of global expansion through stablecoins.
From a broader fintech perspective, we believe the popularization of stablecoins faces three major obstacles: an unclear global regulatory framework (though rapidly improving); still cumbersome user experience (insufficient traditional banking channel coverage); and some trust issues slowing adoption. However, a16z partner Chris Dixon points out that stablecoins can "reset" the current closed and fragmented global financial system, calling it the "WhatsApp moment for money" - just as email revolutionized communication, stablecoins will for the first time enable open, instant, and borderless value transfer.
Beyond cross-border payment scenarios, stablecoins also provide new possibilities for AI agents to break through traditional financial infrastructure limitations. For example: When an AI agent needs to pay on behalf of a user, whose card or wallet should be used? Who authorizes the transaction? How are risks attributed? How can AI agents settle directly? With blockchain's inherent programmability, stablecoins can solve these issues through budget rule settings, conditional triggered payments, and micro-payments. Stripe's existing AI agent toolkit already supports creating one-time virtual cards for e-commerce transactions (which Perplexity is using for autonomous shopping experiences), and stablecoins will become a more suitable alternative or extension.
