- Stripe enabled its merchants in the U.S. to accept the Circle-issued USDC stablecoin for online payments
- In the first 24 hours of allowing stablecoin payments, Stripe saw customers from over 70 countries make purchases using this payment method
- Stripe charges a 1.5% fee on stablecoin transactions that settle in fiat currency in the merchant’s Stripe balance
Stripe has authorized its merchants in the United States to receive the Circle-issued USDC stablecoins through their online checkout pages. This allows merchants to accept payments from customers around the world using stablecoins.
Stripe Sees Adoption in First 24 Hours
In the first 24 hours of allowing merchants to accept stablecoin payments on its platform, Stripe reportedly saw that customers from more than 70 countries made purchases with that form of payment.
Jay Shah, head of product at Stripe, said the stablecoin option enables merchants to accept payments from around the world, according to the report.
New Product Updates
The ability to accept stablecoin payments from customers around the world is one of several product updates added to Stripe’s Optimized Checkout Suite, according to Will Gaybrick, president of product and business at Stripe.
The Pay with Crypto feature lets merchants accept stablecoin payments that settle as fiat in the Stripe balance. “You can accept USDC payments on Ethereum, Solana and Polygon without the complexity of holding or converting crypto yourself,” Stripe said.
Stripe charges 1.5% of the transaction amount in USD for this service.
Previous Crypto Support Stopped in 2018
Stripe had previously enabled bitcoin payments in 2018 but stopped supporting crypto after finding the experience to be “pretty terrible” with lack of demand.
However, in April 2022, John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, said improvements in crypto have made it more viable for payments. He cited increased transaction speeds, lower fees, more stable stablecoins, and real utility for crypto.
Conclusion
With its return to supporting crypto payments, Stripe is aiming to provide merchants with an easy way to accept cross-border stablecoin payments and tap into a new customer base. The adoption in the first 24 hours signals promising demand for this new payment option.
