Congratulations to Zach Abrams and the whole Bridge team for this massive achievement! This acquisition of Bridge by Stripe tells us an important story: (1) Stablecoins have PMF as a global disintermediation tool and payment companies are noticing. The stablecoins' PMF is due to the simple value prop for global payments: efficient, low-latency cross-border transactions without the need for traditional correspondent banking, where payment companies to integrate stablecoin solutions to tap into large centralized and decentralized liquidity & settlement networks. (2) Building regulated crypto fintech infrastructure is extremely hard even for large companies. Complying with money custody & transmission regulations is highly challenging—even for large corporations—due to complex fragmented regulatory requirements across the US, EU, APAC, and MENA. Satisfying those regulatory requirements represent a massive investment across compliance, legal, operations, security, and engineering. (3) Partnerships with US banking institutions are the key to unlock the global stablecoin-based economy. In order to provide efficient and powerful onramps and offramps, crypto companies are required to operate FBO (For Benefit Of) accounts with banking institutions that are cautious about crypto assets and demand rigorous adherence to KYC/AML and ledgering reconciliation standards - as they should. (4) The race for lower cross-border transaction fees is entering a new era. Stablecoins push the fees to more efficient and liquid local FX markets with near-real time settlements between them, accelerating the competition to lower cross-border transaction fees. We're about to see a ton of activity around stablecoins from every payment company in the world, at the risk of being left behind. Bastion is a regulated wallet infrastructure for payment companies to integrate stablecoins into their products and offerings in hours rather than quarters, all while being compliant. Reach out if you'd like to learn more!
Well said!
Nassim Eddequiouaq DM’d you, Nassim on this topic!
ACCA Qualified | ex Big 4 | External audit | Strategy | Finance Partner | tech savvy | Riyadh KSA
3wInsane move Stripe leading the crypto adoption initiative like a champ