Compiled by: Felix, PANews

On June 12, US payment processor Stripe announced the acquisition of crypto wallet infrastructure company Privy, which will be incorporated into Stripe but will continue to operate as an independent product. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, and the specific terms of the transaction have not yet been disclosed.

What makes Privy different?

Privy's embedded wallet allows developers to build a simpler onboarding experience, such as allowing users to create a crypto wallet without having to memorize or record mnemonics. In addition, Privy allows users to hold assets or perform operations directly in supported crypto applications without having to connect to third-party wallets such as MetaMask for transactions. For example, OpenSea uses Privy to enable customers to purchase NFTs directly from its platform. Privy creates a wallet for consumers in the background to facilitate their purchases. Prior to the collaboration, OpenSea's customers needed to create an external wallet through a provider such as MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet and link it to their account.

“When we first started, wallets were powerful but inaccessible to all but the most technically savvy,” said Henri Stern, co-founder and CEO of Privy, in a statement. “Developers had to direct users off-platform to get started, which broke the user flow and hindered conversion. This friction fundamentally limited future growth in crypto.”

New York-based Privy was co-founded by Stern and Asta Li, who was a founding engineer at Aurora before founding Privy. Stern previously worked as a researcher at Web3 company Protocol Labs. Founded in 2021, the startup recently raised $15 million in a round led by Ribbit Capital, bringing its total funding to more than $40 million. Other investors include Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, BlueYard and Coinbase Ventures. Privy was last valued at $230 million in March, according to Pitchbook data.

Privy claims that within three years, its technology has been widely used across the industry, supporting more than 75 million accounts and 1,000 development teams, including mainstream crypto applications such as Pump.fun, Hyperliquid, OpenSea, as well as restaurant loyalty program startup Blackbird and global recruitment company Toku.

Regarding the acquisition of Privy, Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison said in a statement: "We are excited to enable a new generation of global Internet-native financial services by connecting Privy's wallet with Stripe and Bridge's money movement capabilities through a unified platform."

Stripe’s Crypto Journey

Stripe's crypto layout began in 2014. Stipe was one of the first payment companies to accept Bitcoin in 2014, but stopped the business in 2018 due to scalability issues and high transaction fees. Despite this, the company insisted at the time that it was "very optimistic about the overall prospects of cryptocurrency."

Stablecoins are Stripe's next attempt. In April 2024, the company announced that it would support stablecoin USDC payments this summer. Then in October, Stripe launched the "Pay with Crypto" public beta function, allowing US companies to accept stablecoin payments and automatically convert them into fiat currency and deposit them into Stripe accounts. Supported stablecoins include USDC and USDP, covering Ethereum, Solana and Polygon chains. In the first week of launching stablecoin payments, Stripe's stablecoin transaction volume exceeded its entire history of providing Bitcoin transactions.

But Stripe still lacks a key component, which requires a way to seamlessly handle cross-border transactions. In November 2024, Stripe confirmed the acquisition of the stablecoin payment platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, and the deal was finally completed in February 2025. This is Stripe's largest acquisition to date, marking its major layout in the field of stablecoins. The acquisition of Bridge enables it to optimize cross-border payment solutions and expand stablecoin payment infrastructure.

In May 2025, Stripe launched stablecoin accounts in more than 100 countries to help merchants hold funds and pay overseas suppliers using Circle Internet Group Inc.'s USDC and Bridge's own USDB stablecoins.

Stripe's series of actions indicate that the company intends to become the preferred supplier for customers who want to add support for crypto products or launch their own crypto products. Currently, companies from large technology companies to traditional banks have shown great interest in exploring crypto technology.

Related reading: Stripe’s bet on future commerce: AI and stablecoins jointly drive the launch of “stablecoin financial accounts” and encrypted payment cards