USDC

Paystack’s parent company, <a href="https://technext24.com/2023/03/16/stripe-raises-6-5b-liquidity-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Stripe</a>&nbsp;has announced that users from over&nbsp;70 countries used stablecoins for online transactions in just 24 hours since it began allowing merchants using its platform to accept crypto payments again.
Just yesterday (October 9), Stripe merchants in the US were authorized to receive the circle-issued stablecoin USDC through their online checkout pages. In a post on X by an employee, Jen late yesterday, the feature has already seen engagement from over 70 countries: “Fun fact:
“In the first 24 hours, customers from 70+ countries have paid with stablecoins through. <a href="https://x.com/stripe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@Stripe</a> Today, we just expanded access, so if you’re a US merchant on Stripe, check your Stripe dashboard and turn on “Pay with Crypto!,” she said.
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The stablecoin option helps the company offer merchants a way to accept payments from around the world. The firm also included support for local payment methods in different countries. Customers can pay merchants in USDC or USDP on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, while US-based merchants are paid in dollars.
Users can connect their browser-extension wallet (e.g. Metamask, Coinbase Wallet) and pay directly with stablecoin. After KYB, the merchant experience is the same on Stripe Balance no matter whether customers pay with a credit card or crypto. Also, Stripe helps merchants with issuing refunds which directly go to customers’ wallets.
As part of the arrangement, the company takes 1.5% of the transaction amount, which is lower than the 2.9% plus $0.30 fee it typically charges on card payments. Head of product, Jay Shah disclosed during a presentation in New York yesterday that Stripe supports over 100 payment options and will continue to expand its suite.
Recall that the payments firm was among the first to enable Bitcoin payments in 2014, but disabled the feature four years later,&nbsp;<a href="https://stripe.com/blog/ending-bitcoin-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">explaining</a>&nbsp;that slow processing times were leading to failed transactions.
“We, as a principle, do things that internet businesses want; and they want to reach more customers at lower cost,” Jeff Weinstein, product lead, wrote in an&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/jeff_weinstein/status/1844080628427620642" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X post</a>. “Stablecoins, while still early, show some sign that they can help achieve that.”
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Stripe reintegrating crypto is certainly an encouraging sign for the uptake of crypto payments. When the re-launch was announced in April, Stripe co-founder John Collison,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-25/stripe-will-let-merchants-accept-stablecoins-for-online-transactions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">noted</a>&nbsp;that technical improvements in crypto had helped bolstered the decision.
An anonymous but trusted source told <a href="https://nicopeieth.substack.com/p/what-stripe-has-done-wrong-with-their?source=queue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nico Pei</a> that the fintech company just acquired&nbsp;Bridge, a crypto/fiat conversion API solution, for 900M dollar last week. For him, the rumoured acquisition is the driving force behind the relaunch.
<h4 id="stripes-crypto-payment-sentiments-and-analysis" class="wp-block-heading">Stripe’s crypto payment: sentiments and analysis</h4>
Stripe reintegrating crypto is certainly an encouraging sign for the uptake of crypto payments. Yet, some analysts believe that there are fundamental issues that will get in the way it attaining global acceptance.
For instance, in a blog&nbsp;<a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-150031096?source=queue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">post</a>, Nico Pei from Sky Lab characterized Stripe’s payment solution — which relies on wallets and their sometimes-onerous requirements — as “useful for crypto-natives” but “unintuitive” for everyone else.&nbsp;
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Pei also characterized the 1.5% fee, which is already 50% cheaper than current alternatives, as “predatory” given how little crypto payments cost Stripe.&nbsp;
For crypto payments to compete with credit card giants, Pei says, they’ll need to compete with the sprawling ecosystem of cash back, travel points, and loyalty rewards that incentivize customers to make use of credit cards.&nbsp;
In a similar commentary, Jack Kuninec <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stripe-reintegrates-crypto-payments-in-the-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote </a>that although stablecoin usage can make it easier for US merchants to sell to international customers, cards are certain to account for a large majority of US internet payments for the foreseeable future.
“Crypto payment solutions like Stripe’s (<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helio-upgrades-solana-pay-plugin-for-shopify" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">and Shopify’s</a>) have a bit of a discoverability problem: a minority of people use crypto wallets, and there’s no central repository of merchants for crypto users to find crypto-friendly merchants”, he said.
The post <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/10/10/stripe-stablecoins-used-70-countries/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Stablecoins payment feature used in over 70 countries 24-hours after relaunch, Stripe says</a> first appeared on <a href="https://technext24.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Technext</a>.

Stablecoins payment feature used in over 70 countries 24-hours after relaunch, Stripe says

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