San Francisco-based fintech giant Stripe announced its latest advance into cryptocurrency by partnering with Twitter.
According to the new pilot program, Stripe will let a small group of creators send and receive payments in USDC via its payment platform, Connect. Creators can thus directly manage their account details through the Stripe Express app.
Stripe’s Crypto Payment Push
The company stated in a blog post that Twitter will be the first company to integrate the new payment method into monetization products. The social media platform will allow creators to get their earnings on Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows immediately settled in cryptocurrency wallets.
“All crypto-related complexity and operations” will be handled by Stripe, so Twitter won’t be in charge of storing and acquiring cryptocurrencies.
The fintech firm picks the Polygon network to process all the on-chain transactions for its strengths in “low gas fees, high speed, broad wallet compatibility, and integration with Ethereum.” Creators who receive funds through the program can thus bridge their assets to Ethereum and exchange them quickly for other cryptocurrencies.
Though the company only supports crypto payments in USDC for the time being, it assures the users that more chains and payout cryptocurrencies will be added to the platform in the future. The firm considers USDC’s price stability as distinguishable from other cryptocurrencies primarily subject to high volatilities.
As manifested in the blog post, Stripe is doubling down on its exposure in the crypto space. The firm says they plan to support crypto payouts in more than 120 countries by the end of the year. However, compared to its main competitors like Block, PayPal, and Visa, which had collaborated with numerous crypto firms and exchanges even before the digital assets soared in popularity, Stripe is regarded as “late to the party.”
Stripe Re-enters the Crypto Space
Last year, Stripe’s CEO, John Collison, already hinted that his company could reenable cryptocurrency services soon after the giant had terminated Bitcoin services back in 2018 due to concerns over price volatility and transactional inefficiencies.
After raising $600 million last year in a fundraising round, Stripe is currently valued at $95 billion. As of 2021, the unicorn processed $640 billion in payments, a 60% increase from the year before.
