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Payments Giant Stripe Is Getting Back Into Crypto

source-logo  coincodex.com 14 October 2021 13:34, UTC

Key highlights:

  • Payments software giant Stripe is getting back into the cryptocurrency space
  • Stripe previously supported Bitcoin between 2014 and 2018
  • The company is currently hiring four engineers to start off its crypto team

Stripe is getting back into crypto

Payments software provider Stripe is getting back into cryptocurrency, and is looking to hire four engineers for a new crypto team led by Guillaume Poncin, who previously headed engineering at Stripe’s banking and financial products team.

A LinkedIn post by Stripe employee Edwin Wee related to the new job postings says that cryptocurrencies have the potential to offer faster and cheaper transactions, especially for underserved markets. 

According to a source that spoke to CoinDesk, Stripe is looking to take a neutral approach to cryptocurrency instead of focusing on one crypto asset or network. According to the source, Stripe has also shown a lot of interest in the non-fungible token (NFT) space.

Even though the company is forming a new crypto team, this will not be Stripe’s first rodeo in the cryptocurrency space. Stripe supported Bitcoin between 2014 and 2018, when it announced that it was ending Bitcoin support due to low demand for BTC payments. At the time, the company said that rising transaction confirmation times and high fees made Bitcoin less useful as a means of payment. Still, the company said at the time that it remained optimistic about cryptocurrencies, and was monitoring projects like the Lightning Network, which can make it much more efficient to transact with Bitcoin. Stripe also said that it was interested in other projects like Ethereum and Stellar.

In the job listing for the crypto-focused staff engineer position, Stripe stated:

“Stripe was early in supporting the crypto community and helped businesses accept Bitcoin in 2014. We’re looking for experienced engineers in the cryptocurrency space who are invigorated by the opportunity to have a major impact on how users interact with crypto.”

If Stripe decides to make a bigger commitment into crypto, it could have a significant impact on the utility of cryptocurrencies. Stripe is a giant in the payments space, serving more than 250 million API requests per day. According to Stripe, 90% of adults in the United States have used Stripe at some point in their lives.

coincodex.com