The fourfold growth of Bridge, Privy's billion-level wallet, the launch of Tempo's testnet, and the penetration of stablecoins in the B2B sector are silently reshaping the infrastructure of the global economy.
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
While the crypto market is still mired in discussions of a 'crypto winter', Stripe is pulling Web3 technology out of the 'speculative narrative' in 2025 and embedding it into the soil of the real economy, creating a different kind of 'fireworks'.
On February 24, Stripe released its annual letter for 2025, showcasing a hardcore report card with '1.9 trillion dollars in total business transaction volume and 34% year-on-year growth'. More importantly, this letter reveals the progress after its acquisitions of Web3 companies like Bridge and Privy — this has never been a simple capital merger, but a quietly unfolding revolution: making Web3 no longer a celebration for niche players, but the underlying infrastructure for global payments and business in the AI era, subtly rewriting the rules of the global financial game.
First, look at the "basic market": $1.9 trillion, supporting 1.6% of global GDP circulation.
To understand Stripe's Web3 ambitions, one must first see its "confidence"—the core data in this annual letter, each highlighting its absolute voice in the global payment field, also solidifying the foundation for its Web3 layout.
In 2025, all merchants and businesses accessing Stripe's services will process a total transaction volume of $1.9 trillion through its platform, a year-on-year surge of 34%. How shocking is this figure? Converted, it corresponds to 1.6% of global GDP—meaning that for every $100 of economic output created globally, $1.6 flows through Stripe's system, acting as an invisible financial artery that permeates all aspects of the global real economy.
More importantly, Stripe's penetration has long surpassed the boundaries of "payment tools." Its programmable financial services have empowered over 5 million businesses globally, covering most leading AI companies, 90% of the Dow Jones component stocks, and 80% of the Nasdaq 100 companies—almost encompassing the most dynamic business and technology entities worldwide.
Even in the entrepreneurial field, Stripe is quietly "monopolizing" the entry: now, 25% of newly registered companies in Delaware, USA, are born through Stripe Atlas (its fast company setup service), meaning that for every 4 new companies, 1 is bound to Stripe's ecosystem from the very beginning. In addition, its online payment tool Link has surpassed 200 million users, becoming one of the world's most popular quick payment methods.
This robust and strong basic market gives Stripe enough confidence to bet on Web3—in the winter where most enterprises are shrinking their crypto layouts, it is instead increasing its investment, and the progress of Bridge and Privy is the core answer to this bet.
Breaking the bias: Even in the crypto winter, it is still the summer of stablecoins.
When it comes to stablecoins, many people's first reaction is still "a safe haven for speculation" or "an accessory of the crypto circle." But in its annual letter, Stripe fiercely broke this bias with a set of data: "It may be the crypto winter now, but it is definitely the summer of stablecoins."
The most intuitive comparison is this: despite Bitcoin's price being halved compared to October 2025, the crypto market is in a slump, yet stablecoin payment volume has doubled against the trend, reaching $400 billion in 2025. What's more noteworthy is that 60% of this $400 billion comes from B2B payments—this means that stablecoins have transcended the realm of "speculative tools," becoming a necessity for cross-border settlements and capital flows for businesses, truly entering the core scenarios of the real economy.
Behind all this is Bridge, acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion, which is the most critical driver. Many are curious about how Bridge has fared since its acquisition. The answer lies in its transaction volume—after the acquisition, Bridge's transaction volume directly achieved over fourfold growth, proving Stripe's acquisition logic: it's not about buying a company but integrating a set of practical technical capabilities.
Bridge: transaction volume directly achieved over fourfold growth.
Stripe's transformation of Bridge has never been as simple as "changing the boss"; rather, it deeply integrates into its own financial system, building a complete solution for the interoperability of fiat and cryptocurrencies, achieving three major breakthroughs, each addressing industry pain points.
Firstly, becoming the "technical core" of Stripe's stablecoin financial accounts. Now Stripe's enterprise users can freely receive and send funds between fiat and cryptocurrencies without needing additional integration with third-party tools, thanks to the technical support provided by Bridge—eliminating the hassle of complex interface integration and compliance risks, essentially opening the "convenient door to crypto payments" for businesses.
Secondly, breaking down the barriers between fiat and crypto. In April 2025, Bridge partnered with Visa to launch a stablecoin payment card: users can spend directly from their stablecoin balance, and during payment, the system automatically converts the stablecoin into local fiat; while the merchant side does not need to interact with any crypto technology or understand the underlying logic of stablecoins, the entire process is no different from regular card payments—this model completely resolves the biggest obstacle to daily consumption with stablecoins.
The crypto wallet Phantom has also launched a stablecoin card for users through Bridge, signifying that stablecoins are no longer "digital currencies stored in wallets," but can be used directly for buying coffee and shopping—truly entering the lives of ordinary people.
Third, lowering the threshold for issuing stablecoins. The newly launched Open Issuance feature by Bridge allows any business to quickly issue and manage its own stablecoins—without investing huge costs in research and development, and without spending a lot of time on compliance integration. Leveraging Stripe's ecosystem and Bridge's technology, businesses can have their own stablecoins, which also provides new possibilities for cross-border financing and capital management for SMEs.
Privy and the "disappearing wallet": 110 million users' painless entry.
If Bridge is the "circulation hub" for stablecoins, then Privy is the core piece that Stripe uses to connect the Web3 wallet layer.
Privy is not limited to the positioning of "wallets exclusive to crypto players" but has been transformed into a tool that enterprises can directly reuse, significantly lowering the threshold for using Web3.
Privy's core advantage is its powerful API capabilities—businesses only need to integrate the Privy API to quickly deploy user-friendly Web3 wallets without separately developing interfaces for different wallets or investing a lot of manpower to study cryptographic technology. This seemingly simple step fundamentally changes the application logic of Web3 wallets: they are no longer just "niche toys" used only by crypto enthusiasts, but can also be easily integrated by businesses.
By the end of 2025, Privy had already supported over 110 million programmable wallets, which are distributed globally to serve various businesses and users. In Stripe's view, the core value of Privy is to "democratize" Web3 infrastructure.
The payment-specific L1 Tempo is about to launch its mainnet.
If Bridge and Privy are the acquired pieces of the puzzle, then Tempo is the "child" jointly incubated by Stripe and crypto venture capital Paradigm.
Stripe pointed out without reservation in its annual letter the existing blockchain's shortcomings in payment scenarios, including throughput, reliability, cost predictability, and privacy. The more serious issue is that Stripe believes that as AI Agents begin to initiate transactions on a large scale, what will be needed in the future is a blockchain capable of processing millions or even billions of transactions per second. The existing blockchain architecture cannot meet this demand.
The design philosophy of Tempo is simple: built specifically for payments. Its core capabilities include: dedicated payment channels, sub-second confirmations, optional privacy, and payment of fees using stablecoins. Stripe stated that companies like Visa, Nubank, and Shopify are already testing Tempo's performance in various applications, including global payments, embedded finance, and remittances. The Tempo mainnet is also about to go live.
The most dramatic story comes from Klarna. The CEO of this company was once a well-known crypto skeptic, openly expressing disinterest in crypto technology. However, after experiencing Tempo, his attitude changed 180 degrees, and Klarna became the first bank to issue stablecoins based on the Tempo test network.
The future is here: the rise of agency commerce.
What’s more exciting is the rise of "Agentic Commerce." Stripe predicts that future internet transactions will primarily be completed by AI Agents. We have far surpassed the mere speculative phase and entered the construction and practical application phase.
Stripe and OpenAI developed the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), and they also support the first shopping experience built into ChatGPT.
Launched Shared Payment Tokens, allowing agents to initiate payments without exposing credentials.
Even launched Machine Payments, allowing developers to charge agents with just a few lines of code. Stripe will support payments using USDC stablecoin on the Base chain through the x402 protocol, and future plans will expand to more protocols, payment methods, currencies, and blockchains.
Stripe also emphasizes that Tempo's architecture is inherently suited for the AI era's agency commerce and micropayments, which is also the core direction of Stripe's strategy. When countless AI agents autonomously collaborate, purchase services, and exchange data on the internet, what they need is a high-throughput, low-cost, programmable settlement layer.
Stripe acquiring PayPal? An uncertain gamble.
On the same day that Stripe released its annual letter, Bloomberg reported: Stripe is considering acquiring all or part of PayPal's business.
The timing is delicate. PayPal is in trouble: it evaporated nearly a third of its market value in 2025, with a current market cap of about $43.5 billion. Meanwhile, according to CNBC, Stripe announced it would make an acquisition offer to employees and shareholders, valuing the company at $159 billion, a 74% surge compared to the $91.5 billion a year ago. Stripe co-founder and president John Collison told CNBC that the company does not plan to pursue an IPO right now, as it would divert attention from current product and business growth.
If the deal goes through, Stripe could gain Venmo, a highly engaged consumer wallet, PayPal's merchant relationships, and brand checkout capabilities (despite recent growth slowing down). More importantly, this would significantly enhance Stripe's influence on the consumer side—Stripe has always been a king on the merchant side but is relatively weak in the consumer wallet area. However, despite the strategic vision being promising, the actual difficulties faced by the transaction are not to be underestimated, such as antitrust regulations, funding, and integration.
Stripe president John Collison's response during an interview is quite interesting: "PayPal has clearly had a tough time in recent years, and the entire landscape has changed significantly with the emergence of Apple Pay and Google Pay. I cannot discuss any acquisition assumptions, but they are indeed in a difficult position." This response is skillful: it neither denies acquisition interest nor confirms negotiations, yet acknowledges PayPal's difficulties and the changes in the market landscape.
Summary
In summary, Stripe's narrative for 2025 is clear: breaking the geographical boundaries of finance with stablecoins, reducing the entry barrier for Crypto with Privy, and using Tempo to handle the trillions of transactions of future AI Agents, connecting AI and commerce through agency e-commerce.
Bridge's fourfold growth, Privy's hundred million wallets, Tempo's test network launch, and the penetration of stablecoins in the B2B sector are silently reshaping the infrastructure of the global economy.
We may witness the birth of a truly "internet-native financial system." By then, you might find that the AI helping you buy things uses stablecoins; cross-border payments occur over a certain blockchain; your wallet isn't a bank app, but a programmable account embedded in various applications. This is not science fiction; it's the future that Stripe is building.
As stated in the letter, the machine of survival of the fittest is accelerating. Stripe clearly does not want to be just a spectator of this machine but aims to be the engine that powers it.
Stripe's 2025 annual letter link: https://assets.stripeassets.com/fzn2n1nzq965/3LlGw839Q6kUwxZlLZDtH6/27b629a395aca7219c34c6db5ada3d79/Stripe-annual-letter-2025-desktop.pdf