During the Global Internet Economy conference, Stripe announced its decision to reintroduce support for crypto payments. Stripe’s president, John Collison, highlighted the company’s previous involvement with cryptocurrency, mentioning their experience with Bitcoin support in 2018. Collison expressed excitement about bringing back crypto payments, specifically mentioning Circle’s USDC stablecoin. The decision to reintegrate crypto payments was driven by the increasing utility of crypto, with improvements in transaction speeds and decreasing costs making it a more viable medium of exchange.
The rollout of this feature is expected later this summer, marking Stripe’s return to the crypto sphere after a period of quiet. Last May, Stripe introduced a fiat-to-crypto onramp, offering customizable embeddable onramps for web3 companies and a Stripe-hosted option for user convenience. This reintroduction of crypto payments reflects Stripe’s strategic decision to adapt to the changing landscape of digital payments, recognizing the growing value of crypto in global transactions while aiming to enhance user experience and accessibility.