Stripe bets big on crypto with FTX partnership
Payments giant Stripe has announced plans to power digital asset payments, kicking off its return to the crypto space with an FTX partnership.
Stripe plans to provide ‘know your customer’ identity verification checks for the popular crypto exchange as well as powering payments for users adding funds to their FTX account. In a sign that Stripe is doubling down on its support for crypto the company will now offer fiat payments API integration for businesses to process crypto-to-fiat currency payments according to its website.
“Stripe is working with many of the most exciting projects in Web3 and supporting the world’s leading crypto brands. FTX is a great example of this,” commented Will Gaybrick, Chief Product Officer at Stripe.
The partnership marks a union between two of the most valuable companies in the fintech space. Stripe was valued at a staggering $95bn (£72bn) a year ago while crypto exchange FTX reached a valuation of $32bn after a $400m capital raise in January 2022. In January 2022, FTX processed $14bn of transaction volume per day according to the company.
Brett Harrison, the head of FTX US, said that the exchange has already experienced increased processing times for new customers since the integration of Stripe technology.
Stripe, which was founded in 2010, has had a somewhat turbulent relationship with crypto. It became the first major payments company to support bitcoin payments in 2014. However, it dropped its support for Bitcoin payments back in 2018 arguing that increasing transaction times and limited block sizes meant that the world’s most popular crypto currency was not suited to being a means of exchange.
The firm’s partnership with FTX is a signal that the company is committed to returning to the crypto space. In addition to powering crypto payments for businesses Stripe also plans to help scale NFT marketplaces and onboard buyers and sellers.
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