Stripe acquires stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion in crypto’s largest acquisition

Fintech giant Stripe has just completed its biggest deal ever, acquiring stablecoin platform Bridge for a staggering $1.1 billion, according to a post on X by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.

Founded in 2022 by former Square and Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, Bridge enables businesses to accept payments in stablecoins. The pair had previously sold Evenly, a Venmo competitor, to Block in 2013. Abrams also has a background as a senior employee at Coinbase.

“This deal is done. $1.1b,” Arrington said on X.

https://twitter.com/arrington/status/1848060479727435967

Before the acquisition, Bridge had raised $58 million in funding, including a $40 million Series A that valued the company at $200 million, according to Fortune. This new deal marks a significant leap from that valuation and sets a new record as Stripe’s largest acquisition to date.

Stripe, valued at $70 billion, reintroduced crypto payments for U.S. businesses earlier this month, using USDC on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, as previously reported by The Block. The company also partnered with Coinbase in June, integrating Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network into its crypto payment services, while Coinbase added Stripe as an option for its wallet users to buy crypto.

This $1.1 billion deal is now the largest acquisition ever in the crypto industry.

Earlier this year, we covered Stripe’s reentry into the crypto payments space after a six-year break. This time, they’re focusing on stability. Instead of dealing with Bitcoin’s volatility, the fintech giant has turned to USDC, a stablecoin tied to the US dollar. Their acquisition of Bridge further strengthens Stripe’s foothold in the space, reinforcing their commitment to stability and growth in the crypto market.

Stripe was founded in 2010 by two Irish brothers Patrick Collison and John Collison to compete directly with PayPal, Adyen, and Square. The Stripe software platform allows businesses to accept online payments. Stripe is now one of the most valuable fintech startups in the world. Patrick and John Collison, who are 32 and 30 respectively, are each worth over $11 billion.