After a six-year hiatus, fintech behemoth Stripe has announced that it will once more let users to accept bitcoin payments.

According to a TechCrunch story, the company is beginning with USDC stablecoins on the Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon blockchains.

John Collison, the president and co-founder of Stripe, made the announcement of the company's return to cryptocurrency payments at the San Francisco-based Connect developer conference.

Collison highlighted how stablecoins provide better user experience and stability.

Stripe Wants to Grow Its Offering

The most recent announcement is a part of Stripe's larger plan to increase the range of services it offers and make its platform more accessible to third-party payment providers.

Stripe's cryptocurrency journey has been a careful dance, striking a balance between its disruptive financial beginnings and the requirement for stability.

The company has always sought to be at the forefront of discussions surrounding blockchain-based technologies and their impact on financial services.

However, it has also been cautious not to compromise its position as a reliable and responsible financial powerhouse.

Stripe processed a staggering $1 trillion in transactions last year and continues to grow, with a current valuation of $65 billion.

In 2014, Stripe dipped its toes into the world of cryptocurrency with tests involving Bitcoin, the pioneering digital currency.

However, in 2018, the company decided to halt its support for Bitcoin due to its volatility and lack of suitability as a means of exchange.

Stripe acknowledged that Bitcoin had become more of an asset than a practical form of payment.

Stripe’s relationship with cryptocurrency took another turn in June 2019 when it became a founding member of the Libra project spearheaded by Facebook.

However, within a few months, Stripe, along with other prominent companies, withdrew its support for Libra, citing a continued interest in projects that promote accessible online commerce worldwide but expressing openness to collaborating with the Libra Association in the future.

After a three-year hiatus, Stripe cautiously embraced cryptocurrencies again, this time by enabling stablecoin payouts for Twitter users.

The success of this endeavor appears to have encouraged the company to explore further crypto integration possibilities.

Triple-A Includes PayPal’s Stablecoin in Payment Options

Aside from Stripe, other payment companies have also adopted stablecoins as a means of payment.

Last week, Singapore-based payments company Triple-A announced plans to integrate PayPal’s stablecoin into its list of supported tokens for customer payments.

By the end of June, Triple-A, the first cryptocurrency payments company in Singapore to have a licence, hopes to provide support for PYUSD, PayPal's stablecoin.

At the moment, the organisation mainly provides payment services in Bitcoin, Ether, and stablecoins that are produced by Circle and Tether.

With almost $110 billion in circulation, Tether's USDT stablecoin continues to rule the cryptocurrency market.

By contrast, PYUSD, which went live in August 2023, has slightly more than $200 million in circulation.