Stripe Uses Paxos’ Service to Add Crypto Payments for Merchants

Paxos launched a new payments platform to make it easier for merchants to accept stablecoin payments.

Paxos, a stablecoin issuer and blockchain infrastructure provider, said it has launched a stablecoin service for payments providers, with Stripe being its first customer.

Last week, Stripe launched a feature that allows merchants to accept stablecoins for payments, powered by Paxos’ infrastructure, the companies said. Paxos’ platform allows merchants to accept three forms of stablecoins—Circle USD Coin, PayPal USD and Pax Dollar—and enables instant conversion into U.S. dollars for merchants.

Stripe decided to reintegrate crypto payments as an option for merchants this year after ending bitcoin payments in 2018, which failed to gain wide adoption due to the volatility of bitcoin prices and slow transaction times. Using stablecoins, which maintain a value pegged to a traditional currency, could solve some of those issues. PayPal last month announced it’s enabling U.S. merchants to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their business accounts.