Stripe Acquires Crypto Wallet Provider Privy Ahead of Its Stablecoin Launch

After making strides toward its stablecoin launch, Stripe will acquire crypto wallet provider Privy.

Stripe is acquiring crypto wallet provider Privy, as the fintech giant continues making advances toward launching its stablecoin.

Privy is not yet a leading player in the crypto wallet space, but it has 75 million accounts and partnerships with brands including trading platform Hyperliquid and NFT marketplace OpenSea.

Privy’s protocols allow clients to build crypto wallets that are embedded directly into their platforms. The Stripe acquisition—the terms of which have yet to be disclosed—should vastly expand Privy’s ecosystem.

While the brand will come under Stripe’s umbrella, Privy will continue to operate as an independent product. In a social media post, both companies said they share the goal of bringing crypto and fiat closer together to transform how value moves digitally.

The deal marks Stripe’s latest investment in the digital assets space following its blockbuster acquisition of stablecoin issuer Bridge.

Shortly after the $1.1 billion deal was announced earlier this year, Stripe confirmed it was launching trials of its dollar-backed stablecoin.

The long-awaited launch follows a series of crypto-related stops and starts for the fintech. Stripe made an early foray into bitcoin payments years ago, but the demands of processing crypto proved too intensive.

Additionally, the company has been working toward launching a stablecoin for over a decade.

Stripe was among the first fintechs to accept cryptocurrency payments, announcing the integration of bitcoin back in 2011. The move came at a time when most other institutions were still largely skeptical of the asset class.

At the time, Stripe said it was focused on expanding its capabilities to include a variety of cryptocurrencies, aiming to provide a seamless experience for businesses and consumers alike.

However, Stripe later pulled back from bitcoin payments, deemalities of processing crypto transactions at the time.

But Stripe never lost sight of the broader trends in digital assets. In 2022, the company partnered with Coinbase to enable users to receive payouts and convert fiat into stablecoins.

The launch of its own stablecoin will see Stripe enter a highly dynamic $250 billion market.

Stripe’s new venture comes as another payments giant, PayPal, prepares to launch its own stablecoin, PYUSD.

Despite being announced two years ago, PYUSD has yet to capture a significant market share of companies like Tether and Circle.

But PayPal is betting that its well-established customer base and strong relationships with institutional investors will help its offering gain ground.

Stripe is likely aiming to leverage its customer base in a similar way. It stands apart from other crypto platforms with its enterprise-grade, compliant products, which are used by brands like Adidas, Zoom and Nextdoor.

The addition of an embedded crypto wallet should further solidify Stripe’s position in the digital assets space.