Stripe will enable firms to pay their users using cryptocurrencies, and the first partnership is with the social media giant Twitter.
The company said Friday that it will offer merchants the ability to pay in cryptos using stablecoin USDC. Stablecoins are digital coins that are pegged to fiat currencies to maintain a stable price. In USDC’s case, the cryptocurrency is backed by the U.S. dollar.
Twitter will be the first firm to integrate the new payment method. Starting Friday, the social media platform will allow some creators to receive their remuneration in USDC.
The deal is Stripe’s first major step into crypto after dropping support for Bitcoin four years ago. The $95 billion online payments giant stopped accepting payments via bitcoin in January 2018, citing the digital coin’s dramatic price swings.
“While the ‘store of value’ aspects of cryptocurrencies typically receives the most attention, we view the prospect of ‘open-access global financial rails’ as being at least equally compelling,” Karan Sharma, product manager at Stripe’s crypto unit, said in a blogpost Friday. “As a result, we’ve been exploring ways to use cryptocurrency-based platforms to unlock broader access.”
