Stripe is already a payments colossus. Now it wants to make stablecoins the backbone of global commerce

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 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 stableco