Popular online credit card payment processor Stripe has long provided support for bitcoin payments with minimal fees. Yesterday Stripe announced it will soon end support for bitcoin payment processing, citing lower demand and lower frequency of bitcoin payments among their customers.
In a post on the Stellar blog, Tom Karlos, the product manager in charge of payment methods for Stripe, cited high fees and slow confirmation times on the bitcoin network among the reasons for Stripe phasing out bitcoin support. He also mentioned several other cryptocurrencies that Stripe may incorporate in the future, with emphasis on one - Stellar.
Stripe: "We may add support for Stellar"
The blog post announcement from Stripe makes it clear that ending bitcoin support is not a retreat from cryptocurrency, instead saying "we remain very optimistic about cryptocurrencies overall." The post names a few crypto projects in particular that Stripe finds interesting.
"OmiseGO is an ambitious and clever proposal; more broadly, Ethereum continues to spawn many high-potential projects. We may add support for Stellar (to which we provided seed funding) if substantive use continues to grow. It’s possible that Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, or another Bitcoin variant, will find a way to achieve significant popularity while keeping settlement times and transaction fees very low. Bitcoin itself may become viable for payments again in the future." - Tom Karlo, Payment Methods Product Manager for Stripe
Investors are noticing the words "We may add support for Stellar" - strong language, compared to the soft interest in other platforms. The price of Lumens is up more than 20% this morning on the news. Most outlets are missing the importance of the second part - the seed funding!
Stellar Returns on Stripe's Seed Funding
Stripe provided Stellar seed funding of $3 million back in 2014. In return for the loan, when the network was up and running, Stripe received 2 billion Stellar tokens (later renamed Lumens) as repayment.
Like many tokens involved in the initial funding, Stripe's tokens are subject to legal restrictions on profits and resale. Stripe voluntarily agreed not to sell its XLM for 5 years. Those tokens are thus off the market until May 2019.
Stripe's initial $3 million loan netted them XLM tokens now worth more than $1.1 billion. The company's significant XLM holdings make it seem even more likely that Stripe will add Stellar as a payment or exchange option. They would certainly have the liquidity.
Bitcoin support on Stripe will end April 23, 2018
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Cool, was looking for a post like that.I was wondering why they didn't implement it already? Legal issues, or still not enough people knowing about stellar. But it would be definitely the right move to make crypto more "real". Then a lot of online shops could accept stellar. I would definitely right away accept it for our little business. I really hope they are working on the implementation at the moment. Its not only good for Stellar and Stripe, it will be good for the whole Crypto World. Real cases and less speculation its what we need. actually the speculation ist publicity as well. still better than no publicity ;) Would like to read more of stripe and stellar.:) keep on posting good content. regards from Switzerland
Well written. Stellar has recieved huge growth already, but i may not be over just yet.
I think Stellar has more potential than people realize. Like I said in the article though, Stripe adding Stellar could be a long way off, especially in crypto-time.
:)
Thanks for stopping by, my man!
There really is no reason to own and use BTC anymore. I do not see it recovering and is very likely to get to $6K.
Man, I really hope that's wrong, but BTC is getting cumbersome to use. I would welcome a Steem to fiat gateway (I don't think there is one yet).
Steem could compete with Stellar on speed, cost, and tx volume for sure. Stellar has that huge inroad with a big payment processor already though...
Re- analyzed the projection this morning and no change.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@bycoleman/daily-crypto-1-30-18-no-good-news-for-the-btc-usd-chart-bitcoin-headed-to-usd6-000
Perhaps blocktrades can rise to the occasion. Both steem and stellar have huge benefits over BTC especially transaction speed and cost. I think steem bandwidth may eventually get consumed processing the platform alone, so stellar may be a better choice for payment processor.s
Man, it's too bad you were so right! lol
We'll look it at this way, we have a pretty good idea that the crypto space follows standard charting techniques and if that is the case they will be exploding upward as soon as this retrace has completed.
I'll be buy altcoins here shortly. Follow me and I'll try to keep people updated.
Hang in there!
very nice
Aw shucks, I bet you say that to all the bloggers...