What is the background of Bridge, the stablecoin platform involved in the largest acquisition in Web3 history?

Author: Nancy, PANews

On October 21, news broke that payment giant Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, marking Stripe's largest acquisition to date and the biggest acquisition in Web3 history. How did Bridge achieve such a record? What is its background? Previously, PANews introduced the project on August 30, and this article is a re-release of that piece, taking a look back at the past and present of the stablecoin platform Bridge.

As the stablecoin market continues to expand, it is also facing new competitive variables. On August 30, the stablecoin payment company Bridge, founded by former Coinbase and Square employees, announced the completion of a $58 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital and others. What is the background behind Bridge's significant funding? How does this latecomer establish its foothold?

Stablecoin API for Developers with Compliance

Bridge is seen as the Web3 version of Stripe. According to its official website, Bridge is a stablecoin-based payment platform aimed at revolutionizing global capital flows and challenging traditional payment systems like Swift and credit cards.

"If there were only one stablecoin on a single blockchain, then there would be no need for Bridge. The value of Bridge lies in allowing developers to seamlessly convert between fiat and stablecoins and to move across different blockchains," said Chris Ahn, partner at Haun Ventures, in an interview with Fortune.

In simple terms, Bridge is a stablecoin API for developers. The official website states that Bridge provides services such as cross-border payments and foreign currency exchange, allowing users to achieve seamless conversion between fiat and stablecoins using Bridge's Orchestration APIs. Bridge can offer global consumers accounts in USD and EUR, supporting the transfer of USD, EUR, USDC, USDT, or any other stablecoin across blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Solana. Bridge invests its reserve funds in U.S. Treasury bonds, yielding over 5% annually. According to the official website, the entire fund transfer process takes only a few minutes, with fees as low as a few cents.

At the same time, compliance, as a competitive focus for stablecoins, has seen Bridge obtain licenses in 48 states and hold a VASP license from Poland, with further applications pending in New York and Europe.

Since its launch 18 months ago, Bridge has processed over $5 billion in annual payment volume and has expanded its application scenarios through various partnerships. For example, Bridge has partnered with Bitso to conduct stablecoin-based B2B cross-border payments in Latin America, significantly reducing costs compared to SWIFT; it has collaborated with one of Africa's largest fintech companies, Chipper Cash, and Dolar App to provide consumers in Africa and Latin America with the ability to save and spend in USD; and it has worked with crypto companies like Stellar and Strike to provide infrastructure for its stablecoin payment features, as well as partnering with Coinbase to help users transfer between Tether on Tron and USDC on Base. Other clients include Elon Musk's SpaceX, with Bridge assisting in receiving payments in different currencies across various jurisdictions.

$58 Million in Funding, Team Members with Top Fintech Experience

Compared to other funded stablecoin ecosystem companies that are primarily supported by crypto-native VCs, Bridge has also received backing from top Silicon Valley VCs. According to official disclosures, Bridge has secured $58 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Haun Ventures, 1confirmation, and BEDROCK, with $40 million of that led by Sequoia Capital and Ribbit.

The capital's favor is also attributed to Bridge's team background. An investor mentioned in a Fortune interview, "Bridge stands out from other crypto-native companies because its founders have fintech experience, having worked at startups including Brex and Square."

According to LinkedIn profiles, Bridge's co-founder Zach Abrams previously served as the head of consumer products at Coinbase, leading the development, launch, and promotion of USDC. He also held the position of Chief Product Officer at the U.S. corporate payment unicorn Brex, and his P2P payment company Evenly was acquired by the mobile payment unicorn Square, where he became the general manager of Square Customers.

Co-founder Sean Yu previously worked as a senior engineer at Coinbase and Airbnb, and was also a co-founder of Evenly and a software engineer at Square.

BD Ben O'Neill was previously the Vice President of Business Development and Operations at Messari and has also worked at Deutsche Bank, Uber, and Satis Group.