Stripe is one of the most popular Internet payment processors out there. With over $35 billion in objective net worth and a slew of big companies (such as Amazon and Salesforce) as clients, the San Francisco-based company has taken its place along with other FinTech giants like Square and PayPal.
Collison Is Skeptical About Cryptocurrency
But, when it comes to cryptocurrencies in general, it seems the Stripe founders are trying to play it safe. Patrick Collison, the co-founder of the payment processing company, appeared at the WIRED25 conference in San Francisco, where he touched on a wide array of topics, including China, financial inclusion, the Internet, and of course, cryptocurrencies.
On the latter, Collison argued that while there is a lot of potential with cryptocurrency, these assets aren’t currently part of their business model. Expressing the company’s commitment to traditional financial systems, he further said that he is somewhat skeptical about anyone who believes strongly that cryptocurrencies would work, adding that the technology is still being tried by most of the companies that are dabbling in it.
Patrick’s sentiments vary from those of John Collison, his brother, and co-founder. Speaking last year at the Code Commerce conference in New York, John claimed that the company was excited about the long-term future of crypto payments, adding that cryptocurrencies could especially help out a lot in countries where payment methods aren’t fully established.
“Especially not in the United States or kind of near-term companies that have pretty well-functioning payments systems. But as you go to a lot of far-flung countries, if we wanna offer easy APIs to pay out to long-tail countries, we think there could be a bunch of interesting ideas there.”
Payment Processors Could Aid Crypto Adoption
By pivoting into crypto, traditional payment processors can lend their technology and reach to increase adoption and reach, while also ensuring that people are able to experience the same seamless with which they send their fiat money.
Fortunately, a lot of online payment processors have come to understand how they can play a role in boosting the cryptocurrency space. One payment processor that is pro-crypto is Square. The company, which was co-founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, provides a crypto-centric platform known as the Cash App, which allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin.
As for Stripe, however, things have been a tad topsy-turvy. The company announced in 2014 that it would be the first major payment processor to accept Bitcoin, but it reneged on this plan in January 2018, claiming that the increase in the asset’s popularity has led to a decrease in its efficiency as a payment method.
However, it still kept its crypto involvement alive, being one of the surprise inclusions in the Libra Association, the Swiss body that will be governing the Libra stablecoin from Facebook if and when it does get launched, as BeInCrypto has previously reported. Sadly, given the immense level of scrutiny that the asset has come under from regulators and policymakers both at home and abroad, Stripe eventually pulled out early last month amid fears that their business could be hampered as well.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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