Stripe reinstates crypto payments for US businesses via USDC on Ethereum, Solana and Polygon

Payment processing giant Stripe reintroduced crypto payments for US businesses on Wednesday, enabling merchants to accept USDC via Ethereum, Solana and Polygon.

Stripe became the first major payments company to offer bitcoin payment support in 2014. However, the feature was wound down in 2018, citing declining demand amid long confirmation times, higher fees and price volatility.

After a six-year wait, U.S. businesses can accept the stablecoin for payments from customers in more than 150 countries, with the merchants receiving dollars, according to Stripe product lead Jeff Weinstein. The integration works with checkout, elements or payment intents, and soon for the company’s subscriptions feature, he explained.

“Official launch and support for USDC payments in Stripe products rolling out for businesses in the U.S. Very exciting to see how this unfolds!” Jeremy Allaire, CEO of USDC-issuer Circle, said.

Stripe had initially planned to roll out USDC payments in the U.S. this summer but encountered some delays. “When we said "coming this summer", we meant San Francisco summer, which is ~October,” Weinstein said, adding that support for more countries would be enabled in the future.

However, it’s not the first time Stripe has integrated crypto services in recent months. In July, the company’s EU arm enabled online vendors in the region to add a widget on their sites for users to purchase BTC, ETH and SOL, among other cryptocurrencies.

In June, Stripe also inked a partnership with Coinbase to incorporate the crypto exchange's Layer 2 network Base into its crypto payout products and enable users to use Stripe’s fiat-to-crypto onramp to buy digital assets with credit cards or Apple Pay inside the non-custodial Coinbase Wallet.