Stripe’s Stablecoin Startup Tangles With Sanctions and Scammers

When Stripe acquired crypto startup Bridge last year, it described stablecoins as financial services “superconductors.” Thanks to Bridge, Stripe has since integrated stablecoins into an array of products, such as stablecoin cards that allow customers to spend crypto anywhere.

Using stablecoins for payments turns out to be harder than it looks. After Stripe launched one of its new Bridge cards in partnership with another crypto firm in January, scammers instantly derailed the rollout. Stripe told the crypto client it was suspending the program launch as it tried to get fraud issues under control, according to an internal company message viewed by The Information.