Stripe Joins Race for $2 Trillion Stablecoin Market
Global payments giant Stripe has unveiled “Open Issuance,” a new stablecoin infrastructure service designed to let businesses create and manage their own digital currencies in just days.
The service, announced Tuesday, is part of Stripe’s push deeper into the crypto sector as the global stablecoin market surges.
With Open Issuance, companies can mint and burn tokens, customize reserves between cash and treasuries, and select their preferred partners for custody and compliance — all with minimal technical lift.
Stripe’s Stablecoin Play Backed by $1.1 Billion Acquisition
Open Issuance is powered by Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm Stripe acquired in October 2024 for $1.1 billion. Treasury operations will be handled by BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and blockchain-native asset manager Superstate, adding heavyweight financial credibility to the platform.
Stripe said the solution reduces the risks of building a stablecoin in-house, which can be fraught with reserve management and liquidity challenges. Instead, businesses can launch tokens with Stripe’s infrastructure in “a matter of days,” while layering on customer rewards or loyalty programs tied directly to stablecoin earnings.
Regulatory Moves and Banking Ambitions
The move comes amid a regulatory shift under the Trump administration, which passed the GENIUS Act in July to create a framework for stablecoins. The market has already expanded to nearly $300 billion, with U.S. Treasury forecasts projecting it could climb to $2 trillion by 2028.
Stablecoin market cap (Source: DefiLlama)
According to The Information, Stripe is also seeking a federal banking charter to comply with U.S. stablecoin regulations, alongside a trust license from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Crypto-as-a-Service Heats Up
Stripe’s Open Issuance joins a growing wave of crypto-as-a-service (CaaS) solutions that allow traditional firms to enter the digital asset sector without building infrastructure from scratch.
On Monday, Binance announced a white-label CaaS solution for banks, brokerages, and exchanges, offering access to its trading markets, liquidity pools, custody, and compliance tools. Coinbase has been running a similar service since June.
Stablecoins Meet AI-Driven Commerce
Beyond Open Issuance, Stripe also revealed the Agentic Commerce Protocol, an AI-powered e-commerce layer built in collaboration with OpenAI. The system will let merchants sell through AI agents while keeping control of branding and customer relationships.
This aligns with growing industry belief that AI agents will become major blockchain users. Coinbase developers recently suggested that Ethereum could see its largest adoption wave from agent-driven e-commerce.
By combining stablecoin issuance with AI-driven commerce, Stripe is positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider in the next era of digital payments. As businesses race to integrate stablecoins for settlement, rewards, and AI-powered customer engagement, Stripe’s latest move signals that the payments giant intends to be at the center of this transformation.
