Bridge (Stripe)

At a glance

What it does

Orchestration is the plumbing that moves money between fiat accounts and stablecoins across chains, so a business can pay or get paid in dollars without running wallets, exchanges and bank links itself. That is Bridge's core product. A fintech sends an API call; Bridge converts, routes and settles.

Around it Bridge sells three more pieces. Issuance lets a company launch its own branded stablecoin; Stripe introduced the self-serve version, Open Issuance, in September 2025, and Bridge says issuers can keep the reserve yield, which is a company claim. Cards let users spend stablecoin balances through Stripe's card rails. Wallets give businesses custody for their users.

Bridge serves businesses, not consumers. The model earns on flows and services rather than on a reserve, so falling interest rates hurt it less than they hurt an issuer such as Circle. Its homepage names customers such as Phantom, Klarna, Shopify and MetaMask, which is a company claim, and SpaceX has used it to collect payments in several currencies and move funds into its treasury.

How it is different

Bridge's advantage is that it sits inside Stripe. A merchant already using Stripe for cards can add stablecoin acceptance, payouts or a branded token without a new vendor. Analysts describe the strategy as owning every layer: the licence, the issuance, the wallet and, through Tempo, a settlement blockchain Stripe incubated with a crypto venture firm. BlackRock's BUIDL fund expanded to Tempo in July 2026, a sign the chain is live for institutional assets.

Compared with Paxos, Bridge sells issuance as one feature of a payments platform rather than as a stand-alone regulated service. Compared with BVNK, now owned by Mastercard, it serves a similar business customer but through Stripe's merchant base.

Where it fits

Where stablecoins are actually used covers business payments, payouts and treasury use. Who's who in stablecoins places Bridge in the infrastructure layer. Which chains stablecoins live on covers distribution and Tempo. The rules explains the charters and licences involved. Related profiles: BVNK, Paxos.

Risks and open questions

The licence stack is still being built. Bridge operates in the US as a money services business with state money-transmitter licences. In February 2026 the OCC gave conditional approval for a national trust bank; final approval had not been announced by September 2026.

Branded stablecoins may fragment liquidity. If many companies each launch their own dollar through Open Issuance, users and merchants face many small tokens that must be converted back into USDC or USDT to be useful.

Dependence on Stripe is a strategic question as much as a risk. Bridge's growth rides on Stripe's merchants, and a merchant that wants a neutral provider may prefer a firm not owned by its card processor.

Stripe's own figures are the main public measure of Bridge's scale. Stripe does not disclose Bridge's revenue or volume in dollars. No outage, lawsuit or enforcement action involving Bridge was found in public reporting.

What to watch next

• Final OCC approval of the trust bank, which would let Bridge issue and hold reserves under federal oversight.
• Which large brands launch tokens through Open Issuance, and whether those tokens gain real circulation.
• Volume on Tempo, Stripe's chain, and how much of Bridge's flow moves onto it.
• Dollar figures for Bridge volume in Stripe's annual letter.