Last October, the payments giant Stripe announced a blockbuster $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, a little-known startup focused on the dollar-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins. Long a feature of the insular world of blockchain diehards, the technology had yet to break into Silicon Valley. But Stripe’s acquisition, alongside the thawing regulatory environment under the Trump administration, has catapulted stablecoins into the mainstream.
Almost a year after buying Bridge, Stripe is launching a product that will entail the $106 billion fintech’s further incorporating stablecoins into its core business—and potentially upending global payments. The new offering, announced on Tuesday, is called Open Issuance and will allow businesses to launch and manage their own stablecoins, including capturing the valuable yield earned off their reserves. Those reserves, typically consisting of U.S. Treasury bills and bank deposits, earn interest and ensure a stablecoin maintains a 1:1 peg to real-world dollars. Popular stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC and Tether don’t pass on the earnings to holders.
