Stripe, a payments processing company based in US and Ireland, has recently ventured into the Web3 world with the launch of a new service. To help crypto firms process payments, Stripe has announced the launch of a ‘fiat-to-crypto’ service that would allow users to exchange their dollars for cryptocurrency. In addition, this service will also task Stripe with handling KYC checks and compliance parameters for its crypto-centric userbase. Launched in 2010, Stripe is reportedly estimated to have two million customers worldwide.
Stripe, in an official blog post, acknowledged that they are diving into crypto services despite the ongoing market turmoil with a belief that the market would soon stabilise.
“Our fiat-to-crypto onramp is a customisable widget that developers can embed directly into their DEX, NFT platform, wallet, or dApp. Stripe handles all the KYC, payments, fraud, and compliance, removing the need to integrate multiple third-party services,” the company said in its post. “Overall, we maintain fundamental optimism about how crypto can help to facilitate a more globally accessible financial services ecosystem.”
Stripe has been experimenting with the crypto sector for some years now.
Last November, the company established a team dedicated to research on the crypto space and explore the Web3 sector.
Around the same time, the company had onboarded Matt Huang, the co-founder of crypto-focussed venture capital firm Paradigm, to be a part of its board of directors.
The company wishes to make its operations appear safe for people looking to try out the crypto sector by simplifying processes.
“Today, it’s extremely difficult to get end users ‘on chain’—that is, to fund their wallets with the crypto required to interface with Web3 applications. Launching the onramp, we’re building upon years of experience optimising conversion, enabling custom checkout flows, mitigating fraud, and handling KYC for millions of companies building on Stripe,” the post noted.
The service is currently rolling out in the US, and will expand it to other operational regions gradually.
Audius, a blockchain-powered music streaming platform and the Magic Eden NFT platform, have already begun using Stripe’s fiat payment solution.
The company first started to make its way into the crypto sector in 2018 when it began accepting Bitcoin payments. However, the practise was short-lived.