Stripe's acquisition of Privy aims to establish itself in the stablecoin sector as Jupiter.

Stripe can now provide services across the entire encryption stack, with wallet tools offered on the front end through Privy, while the back end is supported by Bridge for stablecoin settlement and transfer.

Compiled by: Ismay

Editor’s Note: As regulatory winds turn favorable and infrastructure matures, stablecoins are quietly becoming core components of the next generation payment network. This article focuses on the latest strategic layout of payment giant Stripe—from restarting encryption payments, acquiring Bridge and Privy, to building a stablecoin "full stack" that encompasses front-end wallets and back-end clearing. This is not just a technical iteration, but Stripe's collective bet on the future of programmable currency. It releases an important signal: the popularization of stablecoins may not originate from crypto-native sources, but rather be driven first by traditional tech giants like Stripe.

The following is the original text:

Stripe is steadily building an unrivaled stablecoin infrastructure.

This payment giant has just announced the acquisition of the popular Wallet infrastructure provider Privy, marking another significant move in its return to the encryption space—driven by the explosive growth potential of stablecoin.

If you are not familiar with Stripe, it is a payment platform that serves half of the Fortune 100 companies and 78% of the projects on the Forbes AI 50 list. Last year, Stripe processed a total payment amount of $1.4 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 38%. In contrast, Stripe's revenue growth rate is seven times that of the companies in the S&P 500 index, indicating its strong coverage capability in the mainstream business sector. In other words, it is exactly the "ideal player" we hope can drive the application of stablecoins.

The acquisition of Privy closely follows the massive Bridge acquisition — the largest acquisition in Stripe's history. These two transactions clearly send a signal: Stripe is seeking to take control of the complete technology stack for "stablecoin native payments" and "programmable money."

Next, let's take a look at what cards Stripe holds.

What did Privy bring to Stripe?

Privy provides a set of tools to polish the "rough edges" of the encryption world, especially in the wallet user experience.

Developers can directly embed encryption Wallets into their applications using Privy's Software Development Kit (SDK). Users can quickly create Wallets using familiar methods such as email or social accounts, significantly lowering the barriers to using encryption products.

According to the acquisition announcement, Privy has currently provided services to over 1,000 teams, totaling 75 million accounts, and has processed billions of dollars in transaction volume. Its client list includes core players in the encryption field such as Hyperliquid and Farcaster.

For Stripe, Privy is a natural complement to its previously acquired Bridge. Privy packages the originally complex Wallet infrastructure into a "plug-and-play" Stripe-style component, which, together with the stablecoin solutions provided by Bridge, builds a complete stablecoin payment toolchain.

In other words, Stripe can now provide services across the entire encryption stack - the front end offers Wallet tools through Privy, while the back end is supported by Bridge for stablecoin clearing and transfers.

Bridge: The backend engine of stablecoin

Bridge is a project acquired by Stripe for 1.1 billion dollars in February of this year, offering three core services that developers can access with just a few lines of code:

Transaction orchestration: Helps enterprises achieve transfers, custody, and payments of stablecoins, with compliance and regulatory requirements handled by Bridge.

Stablecoin issuance: Enterprises can issue their own stablecoins through Bridge, with their reserves invested in U.S. Treasury bonds, and the interest income can be shared with the issuer.

Cross-border transfer: Supports account opening in USD and EUR for global fund flow.

Bridge has demonstrated strong application value in the real world: Starlink (through its parent company SpaceX) utilizes Bridge to steadily remit its revenue earned in Argentina back to the United States in USD; Nigerian users pay for YouTube Premium and ChatGPT subscription fees through Bridge; small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States also leverage Bridge to accept global stablecoin payments without facing the complexities of traditional international banking systems.

Since being acquired by Stripe, Bridge has expanded rapidly. Currently, its "stablecoin financial accounts" cover 101 countries, allowing businesses to hold balances of USDC and USDB (Bridge's own stablecoin) in their accounts, and support receiving payments through traditional banks and encryption networks.

In addition, Bridge has recently partnered with Visa to launch the world's first stablecoin credit card issuance product. With this solution, fintech and encryption companies such as Ramp, Squads, and Airtm have begun issuing Visa cards directly linked to stablecoin Wallets, allowing users to directly spend their stablecoin balances at over 150 million merchants worldwide that accept Visa.

Full-Stack Staking: Stripe's Path to Stablecoin

Stripe's connection with encryption has spanned over a decade, experiencing multiple attempts and withdrawals. As early as 2014, Stripe launched Bitcoin payment functionality, but due to excessive price volatility, it terminated support in 2018. In 2019, Stripe joined Facebook's Libra project (which later gave rise to Sui and Aptos), but ultimately chose to withdraw.

The reasons for each retreat are the same: price instability, immature infrastructure, and unclear regulations. However, the current shift in the U.S. government's attitude towards crypto assets (especially stablecoins) has changed this situation. Stablecoins that are pegged to the dollar, have programmability, and strong liquidity possess the stability of fiat currency while also enjoying the flexibility of cryptocurrencies, and are increasingly gaining support from the U.S. regulatory framework.

Stripe's recent product expansion reflects its confidence in this trend. In 2024, Stripe will reopen cryptocurrency payments after a six-year hiatus, supporting USDC transactions through the Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon networks. Its partnership with Coinbase also enables it to support cryptocurrency payments on the Base network, allowing for direct conversion between fiat and cryptocurrencies within the Coinbase Wallet.

Today, with Privy responsible for Wallet infrastructure and Bridge providing stablecoin backend services, Stripe has achieved comprehensive control over the front and back end of the "programmable currency" technology stack. In the past, the popularity of stablecoins was often limited by infrastructure gaps - businesses wanted to integrate encryption payments but struggled to guide users in, while users wanted to use them but were deterred by the complex Wallet experience.

And now, these obstacles are being removed one by one by Stripe. For stablecoins, this might be the true "tipping point."

The influence of Stripe extends far beyond the crypto space; it deeply serves mainstream businesses, e-commerce platforms, and the enterprise software ecosystem. By integrating stablecoins as "an additional payment method", Stripe has the potential to significantly accelerate its adoption rate in a market where encryption is still niche.

Ultimately, Stripe is not just "buying infrastructure"; it is actively building a "programmable currency underlying network" that can accommodate fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, and AI applications. After years of cautious experimentation, Stripe's true full-stack investment this time is expected to accelerate the transition of stablecoins from being crypto-native to becoming part of the global mainstream financial system.