Stripe Launches USDC Payments via Polygon

Financial service institution Stripe announced last Friday that it will use Polygon, a decentralised Ethereum scaling network, to enable its customers to pay content creators, service providers, freelancers, and sellers in cryptocurrencies.

The Irish-American financial services with dual headquarters in San Francisco, US and Dublin, Ireland, said that it will start allowing initial payouts to be made using USDC stablecoins native to Polygon’s network and via Polygon-compatible wallets.

The famous financial services company stated that such payments would be accessible through its ‘Stripe Connect’ — its system for integrating payments into online marketplaces.

According to Stripe, Twitter will be the first company to integrate the new payment method to provide its merchants with the ability to make payouts in cryptocurrency through USDC stablecoin. Last Friday, the giant social media firm started allowing a select group of creators who use its products, like Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows, to receive their earnings in the stablecoin.

Stripe further mentioned that businesses and platforms using ‘Stripe Connect’ will be able to pay out in USDC without purchasing or holding the stablecoin itself.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal talked about the development and said: "With crypto payouts, platforms using Stripe can instantly send money to verified recipients nearly anywhere in the world."

Stripe stated that it plans to add support for additional cryptocurrencies and payout currencies over time.

More User-friendly to Access Crypto Worldwide

The latest development is Stripe’s efforts to expand its crypto offering services.

In March, Stripe reintroduced its crypto trading services after dropping the Bitcoin service in 2018.  Initially, Stripe started supporting Bitcoin in 2014, but the firm has had a complicated relationship with the cryptocurrency over the years and eventually ended Bitcoin support in 2018.

Last month, Stripe relaunched its crypto payments support to give its clients an easier path to onboard web3 users and interact with crypto coins. The firm announced a suite of products intended to provide customers access to tools and APIs that make it easier for clients to purchase and hold crypto assets, cash out, trade NFTs, and handle compliance workflows such as Know Your Customer (KYC). Stripe’s products aim to enable support for users to buy more than 135 crypto coins with fiat currencies in 180 countries.