Stripe is looking to acquire a Stablecoins specialist

The American payment specialist Stripe has been stepping up initiatives in recent years to strengthen his position in an increasingly diversified payment market. Last example, with discussions currently underway with Bridge, an American company specializing in Stablecoins payments. This reconciliation would highlight the effervescence in the currency-indexed cryptoactive market as well as the wider development of the payments market.

FACTS

• Stripe is currently conducting discussions with the US cryptoactive start-up and infrastructure provider for Stablecoins Bridge to conclude its buy-back.
• Bridge offers software that allows companies to accept cross-border payments made in Stablecoins, allowing it to process more than $5 billion in annualized payments.
• Among its users, Bridge serves the US State Department, the US Treasury, but also leading companies such as SpaceX and Coinbase.
• The estimated amount of this still-potential transaction would be $1 billion and thus represent the largest buy-back transaction ever conducted by Stripe.
• This acquisition is still under discussion at this time, including the strategic issues of licensing and compensation for Bridge founders.
• The two main players in this transaction also made no comments.

CHALLENGES

• Consolidate ambitions: With Bridge, Stripe would ensure its positioning on the coveted cryptoactive market by integrating a specialized company and its expertise on the subject. Especially since the online payment giant has been working on the issue for a long time and was reintegrating cryptocurrency into its services in 2022. Stripe also signed a strategic partnership with Avalanche last May.
• To enhance its status: If the acquisition of Bridge by Stripe was confirmed, this transaction would represent a significant increase in the valuation of the start-up estimated today at $200 million.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Multinationals, distributors, payment giants, banks and of course states are currently mobilized to bring out future Stablecoins around the world. It must be said that some examples demonstrate the potential success of these currencies, such as the Tether. The Stablecoins sector is currently dominated by Tether and its USDT token, which accounts for 38 billion dollars of volume traded per day and has 110 billion euros of capitalization.
• The issue is all the more important as the global payment market is expected to slow down according to a latest study published by Boston Consulting Group. Indeed, it estimates that the growth in payments market revenues is expected to slow by half by 2028, from 9 % to 5 %.
• And this development is not without consequences on the major payment players such as Stripe, which has a lower value than its estimated record of $95 billion in 2021.