Online payments company Stripe is open to accepting cryptocurrency as a method of payment in the future.
Stripe co-founder John Collison said the company ended support for Bitcoin payments in 2018 because of the digital coin’s notoriety for volatile price swings and a lack of efficiency in making everyday transactions.
However, Collison said that: “There have been a lot of developments of late with an eye to making cryptocurrencies better and, in particular, scalable and acceptable cost as a payment method.”
Asked whether Stripe would start accepting cryptocurrency as a method of payment again, Collison said: “We don’t yet, but I think it’s not implausible that we would.”
The company recently formed a team dedicated to exploring cryptocurrencies. Earlier this month, the company appointed Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm, to its board of directors.
Collison said there are a number of innovations emerging in digital assets that have potential, including Solana — a competitor to Ethereum, the world’s second-biggest digital currency.
Founded in 2009, Stripe has quickly become the largest privately-held fintech company in the world. The company was last valued at $95 billion U.S. and counts the likes of Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as investors.
The company, which processes payments for the likes of Google, Amazon and Uber, has expanded into a number of other areas in finance, including loans and tax management.
