Original Author: KarenZ, Foresight News
After acquiring the stablecoin payment platform Bridge for $1.1 billion in October 2024, Stripe officially announced the launch of stablecoin financial accounts on May 8th, aiming to provide more efficient and convenient cross-border payment and fund management solutions for global enterprises, further solidifying its position as a global fintech leader.
So, what stablecoins does Stripe's stablecoin financial account support? What is its underlying asset composition? Which countries or regions does the business cover? From early Bitcoin payment exploration to today's stablecoin strategy, what is Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field? This article will take you on an in-depth exploration.
Stripe Stablecoin Financial Accounts: Defining Borderless Finance
According to Stripe's official documentation, stablecoin financial accounts allow users to hold USDC and USDB stablecoin balances and send and receive funds through stablecoins and traditional financial channels (such as ACH, SEPA, and wire transfers), which means funds from stablecoin balances can be transferred to external bank accounts or crypto wallets. If the recipient is an external bank account, the received amount will be automatically converted based on the current exchange rate, greatly enhancing the convenience and flexibility of fund circulation.
Stripe also revealed that it will gradually support more types of stablecoins in this account. The technical support for this service comes from the Bridge platform acquired by Stripe last year. Bridge focuses on stablecoin infrastructure construction and can help enterprises seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency technology, providing guarantees for the operation of Stripe's stablecoin financial accounts.
In terms of stablecoin custody, Bridge plays a key role. Currently, Stripe's stablecoin account supports USDC (issued by Circle) and USDB, a closed-loop stablecoin issued by Bridge. It is worth noting that USDB is not publicly offered and is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. Its underlying assets consist of US dollars and BlackRock short-term money market funds.
As Stripe executives stated at Stripe Sessions 2025, stablecoins can truly achieve borderless finance. By comparing the payment transaction growth of Stripe and Bridge in their first two years, we can find that Bridge shows a more significant exponential growth trend, which also indirectly confirms the huge potential of stablecoins.
The author observed in the API call information of the Bridge USDB document that USDB is on the Solana blockchain, with Bridge responsible for minting, destroying, and holding stablecoin reserves.
It is worth mentioning that Bridge also supports creating custom stablecoins, including chain selection, token name, and reserve strategy. Bridge will distribute a portion of earnings to USDB and Bridge custom stablecoin holders at the end of each month. Rewards will be minted in the form of new tokens.
However, in information updated a month ago, Bridge stated that Bridge stablecoins (USDB and custom stablecoins) currently support Solana and Base networks, and will soon be launched on Polygon, Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum. At the same time, Bridge stablecoins are always backed by a 1:1 US dollar value. The underlying assets include short-term US Treasury bonds, overnight US Treasury repo agreements, money market funds, and cash. This investment portfolio is stored in a separate account to protect token holders' interests and is custodied by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Apex partners.
In terms of service coverage, Stripe's stablecoin financial accounts are currently open to enterprise users in 101 countries or regions, mainly concentrated in Latin America, Africa, Asian countries centered on Central/South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar), Oceania, and European countries mainly consisting of non-EU small economies or offshore financial centers. These regions are primarily developing countries, emerging markets, and small economies, typically characterized by high dollarization needs, strong cross-border payment demands, relatively loose regulatory environments, insufficient traditional financial infrastructure, or high inflation. Stripe's stablecoin accounts can precisely provide low-cost, high-efficiency payment and fund management solutions for these regions.
Countries or regions such as China, Hong Kong, the United States, core EU countries, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia are not currently included in the support list due to strict regulatory requirements, mature financial markets, or geopolitical factors.
Stripe's Crypto Layout: From Payment to Ecosystem Construction
Stripe's layout in the cryptocurrency field is not a one-day effort but has gone through long-term exploration and deep cultivation.
On May 7, 2025, at Stripe Sessions 2025, Stripe launched a stablecoin financial account. Stripe also announced an expanded partnership with Ramp, an integrated financial operations platform, introducing an enterprise card based on stablecoins and integrated with expense management software, providing businesses with faster settlement speeds, lower costs, built-in currency fluctuation protection, and seamless card issuance. Specifically, businesses can fund their Ramp wallet with local currency and then convert it to stablecoins, or directly deposit stablecoins. Cardholders only need to pay with local fiat currency, and merchants can receive fiat currency. Funds are held at US dollar equivalent, avoiding local currency depreciation.
Future Outlook
From early attempts with Bitcoin to today's comprehensive layout centered on stablecoin financial accounts, Stripe's development in the crypto field has accelerated the integration of traditional finance with the crypto economy and is driving the mainstreaming of stablecoins.
By acquiring Bridge for $1.1 billion and launching stablecoin financial accounts covering 101 countries, Stripe has not only effectively addressed many pain points in cross-border payments but also provided crucial dollar-based tools for emerging markets. Its strategy focuses on the low-cost and high-efficiency characteristics of stablecoins, combined with Bridge's technological advantages and Stripe's global payment network, laying a solid leadership position in crypto payment space.
As global financial regulators gradually improve the regulatory framework for stablecoins and traditional financial giants like Visa become increasingly open to stablecoins, stablecoins are moving from the margins to the mainstream. The stablecoin financial account launched by Stripe provides businesses with a low-friction, high-efficiency global payment solution, driving the global financial system towards a more efficient, convenient, and inclusive direction.
