Share this article

Stripe Co-Founder Is 'Enthusiastic' About Bitcoin, 3 Years After Ending Its Support

John Collison said all approaches to cross-border transactions, including crypto, need to be pursued in "parallel."

speed bump

John Collison, the president and co-founder of payments processor Stripe, said he and his company are "extraordinarily enthusiastic bitcoin fans."

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

When asked by Bloomberg TV host Emily Chang on Tuesday whether Stripe's thinking had evolved from its decision to stop supporting bitcoin payments in 2018 , Collison said crypto has always been "fairly nuanced."

"If you think of the kind of world that crypto people and we are trying to bring about, I think it's a very related set of goals," Collison said.

Collison noted that only 22% of global commerce occurred via cross-border transactions and had some ways to go before they scaled up alongside demand.

"We are stuck down at this level where only a fifth of interactions are cross border," he said. "Crypto is one very exciting direction for trying to solve that."

Collison also said while his company is trying to make it easier to handle non-locally based payment methods such as Alipay, all approaches to cross-border transactions, including crypto, need to be pursued in "parallel."

See also: Stripe Partnering With Goldman, Citigroup, Others to Offer Checking Accounts, Services: Report

Sebastian Sinclair

Sebastian Sinclair is the market and news reporter for CoinDesk operating in the South East Asia timezone. He has experience trading in the cryptocurrency markets, providing technical analysis and covering news developments affecting the movements on bitcoin and the industry as a whole. He currently holds no cryptocurrencies.

Sebastian Sinclair