What Stripe’s new Stablecoin Financial Accounts mean for adoption

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. If spending $1.1 billion wasn’t enough of a sign that Stripe is serious about stablecoins and gaining market share there, its newest announcement shows that it is serious . Stripe unveiled Stablecoin Financial Accounts, which — much like the name suggests — is a money-management feature. Businesses in over 100 countries can now use these “stablecoin-powered” accounts. Basically, a business can not only hold their balance in stablecoins, but they can also receive funds on both crypto and fiat rails. Oh, whoop, big deal. Let me explain: Empire subscribers like yourself are very in the weeds when it comes to crypto. Many of you are crypto-native and likely interact with crypto daily. We’re all aware that stablecoins have been the big winner for crypto, and the extent of their usefulness hasn’t even been realized yet by non-crypto folks. Announcements like this are the exact sort of moves you want to see when introducing stablecoins to businesses, entrepreneurs and executives who’ve probably heard about stablecoins through headlines, but don’t understand the usefulness. “Because stablecoins make it dramatically faster and cheaper to move money internationally, many of the world’s largest companies are turning to Stripe to help assemble their stablecoin strategies. But a challenge remains: making it possible to spend stablecoins at businesses that only accept fiat currencies,” Stripe said in a press release. Announcements like Stripe’s have a chance to open the eyes of non-crypto folks to show them how stablecoin payments can make a difference when it comes to speed and cost. If we pair this with the one they made last week (partnering with Visa on a card-issuing product that allows folks to spend stablecoin balances as fiat), we really are cooking. Normalizing stablecoins — and showing off how effective they are — is the first step to mass adoption, if we’re simplifying it. Patrick Collison, CEO, noted that stablecoins are a “gale-force” tailwind alongside AI, and are “dramatically reshaping the economic landscape around us.” “Our job is to pull these technologies forward so businesses on Stripe can benefit from them right away,” he added. Last year, businesses using Stripe processed roughly $1.4 trillion in total payment volume. Yes, with a T. Right now, these accounts will support USDC and USDB (Bridge’s stablecoin), but it plans to add more in the future. This is how crypto wins. Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters: Source: https://blockworks.co/news/stripe-stablecoin-financial-accounts-adoption