Bessie Liu

Global payments processing company Stripe is launching its own fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, allowing customers to exchange dollars for cryptocurrencies.



Stripe’s new transactions solution is billed as a customizable widget, which can be directly embedded within different DeFi platforms.&nbsp;



The most common way to on-ramp fiat-to-crypto today is to purchase cryptocurrencies through a centralized exchange — including the likes of Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and the recently deceased FTX. To partake in DeFi, one then transfers the cryptocurrency to a third-party wallet.



As a major payments processor for prominent Web2 companies, such as Apple and Walmart, Stripe’s decision to step further into the crypto world during a time when centralized exchanges are under heightened scrutiny can help DeFi become more accessible to mainstream consumers.&nbsp;



“It’s extremely difficult to get end users ‘on chain’— that is, to fund their wallets with the crypto required to interface with Web3 applications,” Jennifer Lee, product manager at Stripe, wrote in a <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/crypto-onramp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>.&nbsp;



Lee added: “Developers have to wrestle with rampant fraud; navigate complex KYC requirements; and somehow still offer a seamless, high-conversion payments experience so that their users can actually use their Web3 applications.”



Stripe says it will handle tasks related to KYC requirements, payments, fraud and compliance.



Companies that <a href="https://support.link.co/questions/which-websites-support-purchasing-crypto-with-link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">already partner</a> with Stripe for fiat-to-crypto on-ramp services include NFT marketplace Magic Eden, social NFT platform Nifty&#8217;s, and decentralized exchange Orca.



There are very limited ways to use DeFi services without a centralized mediator. Stripe’s latest fiat-to-crypto onramp will compete with non-custodial exchanges, such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kado-brings-fiat-on-off-ramp-to-cosmos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kado</a>, which recently moved to bring its on- and off-ramp services to Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Cosmos and Axelar.



Kado welcomes the new competition.



&#8220;It&#8217;s great to see more established payment companies coming into the space, which has been part of our thesis all along,&#8221; CEO Emery Andrew told Blockworks via e-mail, adding &#8220;Payments innovation has always been one of the no brainer use cases for blockchain and cryptocurrency.&#8221;



Born out of the old Terra ecosystem, Kado initially launched a Terra UST native on-ramp and now supports Cosmos, Avalanche, Ethereum, and Solana, allowing transfers from bank accounts directly to wallets in fewer than five minutes.



For now, Stripe’s new products are slated to only be available to US customers, with availability to other countries in the works.



Updated on Dec. 2, 2022 at 1:44 pm ET: A comment from Kado was added.



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Stripe Enables Fiat-to-crypto On-ramp

Jack Kubinec

<div id="highlights-block_62b9d1da21045" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Some NFT merchants are increasing their mint prices to maintain fiat value</li>
 <li>Mastercard and Stripe are creating systems to exchange NFTs with fiat currency</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Downstream from the general decline in cryptocurrency prices, NFT creators face a trade-off: increase their mint price in crypto terms — or book steep fiat losses.&nbsp;



The price-depressed crypto market favors NFT (non-fungible token) collectors, as creators conscientious of ethical and pragmatic implications hesitate to raise their mint prices — the cost of creating a digital collectible on a blockchain, such as Ethereum.&nbsp;



Sellers looking to avoid losses have often had to double or triple their initial mint prices. Because of the price volatility, traditional payment processors are collaborating with NFT marketplaces to make fiat payment mainstream in the space.



Social media website 9GAG faced the pricing dilemma with its recent Memeland “YOU THE REAL MVP” NFT rollout. Memeland ran a blind auction on Discord that set the mint price at 5.3 ether. From the time bidding opened June 9 to when the NFTs were distributed June 16, the price of ETH fell from more than $1,800 to under $1,100.&nbsp;



Memeland <a href="https://twitter.com/memeland/status/1537141451162718209?s=20&amp;t=BFazRoAFmkeW6pFjHdWgtw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> it maintained the initial mint price — despite ether’s fall — to avoid sending “a wrong message that we would change price in order to maximize gain.” 



Memeland went on to thank its buyers for their “trust…despite the bad market conditions.” Artists are weighing their buyers’ continued trust as they consider whether to increase mints.



Jill Brandenburg, an NFT artist whose Andy Warhol-inspired work was displayed in Times Square this month, is “giving collectors the benefit of the dip” in ETH.&nbsp;



“If I raised my prices and had to lower them back down, I wouldn’t feel like I ethically did right by my collectors,” Brandenburg said. “.12 ETH is .12 ETH, no matter what the market determines.”&nbsp;



But with crypto exchanges riled by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/babel-finance-working-to-ease-unusual-liquidity-pressures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">liquidity issues</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/security-threat-exposed-for-browser-based-crypto-wallets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">security concerns</a>, collectors are not, for the most part, buying the dip. Primary and secondary NFT sales are both down more than 20% in volume and fiat value over the past week, according to <a href="https://nonfungible.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NonFungible.com</a>.



NFT merchants must reckon with the financial consequences of falling crypto prices. WAGMI Beach gave its new Bubblegoose Ballers NFT collection a price tag of two SOL (the native token of Ethereum competitor Solana’s blockchain) —&nbsp; around $300 — when the project hit in May.&nbsp;



Last week, WAGMI Beach increased the mint to seven SOL to match its original projected fiat value.&nbsp;



“Because we are a prime example of an NFT that is actually bridging the gap between web2 and web3, our required funding is viewed in fiat rather than SOL,” the company <a href="https://twitter.com/BubblegooseXYZ/status/1535336183877750786?s=20&amp;t=Zu0rBAlq2-WvBJpHzUm6iw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>. “Therefore, our mint price is still tied to that $250-300 range, not 2 SOL.”



Allowing mints to be set in fiat is becoming a trendy solution to the volatility of the NFT market. Mastercard and Stripe both launched initiatives to integrate their payment services with NFT marketplaces this year. The companies aim to disrupt the system of NFTs being exchanged between wallets.



“Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are used to this process. But for most people, it&#8217;s not simple, it’s not intuitive. We think it should be much easier,” Raj Dhamodharan, a blockchain-focused executive at Mastercard, said in a January blog post.&nbsp;



If Mastercard’s plan succeeds, mints will be available via fiat.&nbsp;



Sean Stein Smith, a professor at Lehman College who studies blockchain, believes price volatility is a “large obstacle” to broader adoption of unique digital collectibles. The stability of fiat currency as a backdrop for buyers and sellers would draw new consumers to NFTs and “attract ideas and capital into more fundamentally sound projects,” Smith said.



Smith underscored how the technological basis of NFTs remains unchanged — despite falling crypto values. To focus only on price, instead of potential <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/seansteinsmith/2022/06/19/nft-meltdowns-are-paving-the-way-for-better-use-cases/?sh=7075992d40a4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">use cases</a>, is like “focusing your eyes on the crust of the steak [instead of] how it’s cooked and how it tastes.”



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NFT Artists Struggle To Price Mints Amid Crypto Crash

David Canellis

<div id="highlights-block_627a63ec98831" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Meduza continues to document Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine despite Moscow&#8217;s ban on independent reporting</li>
 <li>The Riga-based outlet was cut off from payment rail Stripe under strict Western sanctions imposed earlier this year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Independent Russian-language website Meduza has raised more than $260,000 in crypto after Western sanctions crippled its ability to field donations through other means.



Meduza, which operates out of Latvia, turned to crypto after fintech giant Stripe stopped supporting payments to the website. 



The <a href="https://meduza.io/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">news outlet</a> was established in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Independent reporting on the Ukrainian war is now basically illegal, but Meduza still publicly investigates and documents alleged Russian war crimes from its Riga newsroom.



Russia’s internet censors now block multiple news outlets — including Meduza — forcing Russia-based readers to access the site via virtual private networks and Telegram channels.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/IKjbZ7YAAdjxFX-nVWW8DPi8mjLtztiPL9jMO2SEG20KSZpAOoGURZltoLrnyVZDItWk-QQwyoyEix27z01XI4T9lDUXbfQnifriZ1_6XpWEInk_dq8dUlThuu7R97LEkbXfcd8rN5KWC_6t0Q" alt=""/><figcaption>Meduza&#8217;s homepage</figcaption></figure>



Last year, Meduza was labeled a “foreign agent,” which ultimately put a stop to local advertising revenue. Crypto has now reportedly enabled Meduza to rely entirely on funds sent from foreigners for the first time.&nbsp;



Before the war, Meduza fielded donations from around 30,000 Russian readers, according to Bloomberg. The outlet’s traffic has since been slashed by a third.



Meduza has recently been asking international audiences to donate cash (dollars, euros and crypto). It accepts bitcoin, ether (and Ethereum-based tokens), monero, BNB (and other BNB Chain tokens), Zcash, and Tether (USDT). Fiat contributions can still be sent via bank transfer or PayPal.



Meduza’s crypto donors have so far sent 3.75 BTC ($117,400), nearly 50 ETH ($118,400), and more than $30,000 in various ERC-20 and BNB Chain tokens, including stablecoins Tether and USDC. None of the trackable crypto has been withdrawn so far, according to blockchain data reviewed by Blockworks.



Large individual contributions include 12 ETH ($28,500) received last Monday and 1 BTC ($31,500) netted the day after.&nbsp;



The outlet says it will use that money to quickly resettle its 25 journalists, mostly in the Latvian capital. Meduza Editor-in-Chief Ivan Kolpakov told reporters that Meduza is currently only raising half of what it needs.



Germany’s Deutsche Welle and US-funded Radio Free Europe have also set up shop in Riga following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian independent outlet Novaya Gazeta is planning to start a new operation there as well, noted Bloomberg.



In any case, Meduza joins a growing list of journalistic organizations to accept contributions via crypto, including the Freedom of the Press Foundation, WikiLeaks, Bellingcat and the Committee to Protect Journalists.



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Russian-language Journalists Forced off Stripe by Sanctions Turn to Crypto

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6262d3d2466da" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Circle CEO says Stripe’s launch is an “indicator of things to come”</li>
 <li>Creator earnings will be paid into Polygon-compatible wallets like Metamask, Coinbase Wallet or Rainbow Wallet</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Payments company Stripe is now enabling crypto payments in USD Coin (USDC), and Twitter creators will be the first to use the service.



The process for fans and customers to pay creators, freelancers, sellers and &#8220;solopreneurs&#8221; can be difficult, especially outside of major markets, Stripe Product Manager Karan Sharma said in a Friday <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/expanding-global-payouts-with-crypto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>.



“While the ‘store of value’ aspects of cryptocurrencies typically receive the most attention, we view the prospect of ‘open-access global financial rails’ as being at least equally compelling,” Sharma wrote.



The crypto payouts will be added to Connect, the payouts platform Stripe created in 2015. Businesses currently use Connect to programmatically send payouts to roughly 70 countries in local currencies.&nbsp;



A select group of creators on Twitter, Stripe’s first partner, will be able to use crypto-based rails to receive earnings from the social media platform. Twitter already uses Connect to pay creators though its <a href="https://media.twitter.com/en/articles/blogs/2021/be-the-first-to-try-ticketed-spaces-and-super-follows" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows</a> products.



Payouts will first be supported in the USDC stablecoin via the Polygon PoS (MATIC) network, according to the company. Creator earnings will be paid into Polygon-compatible wallets such as Metamask, Coinbase Wallet or Rainbow Wallet, and creators can hold their earnings as USDC or convert them into a local currency.



Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle — the firm behind USDC — said in <a href="https://twitter.com/jerallaire/status/1517489261192392704" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter posts</a> that the promise of digital currencies such as USDC has enabled anyone to easily receive payments anywhere in the world.



“Having one of the most important payments companies in the world adopting USDC is an indicator of things to come,” Allaire tweeted. “We<a href="https://twitter.com/circlepay"> </a>share their mission to grow the GDP of the internet, and believe USDC is going to become a key building block for internet commerce.”



Sharma said that Stripe plans to add additional rails and payout currencies over time and seeks to support crypto payouts in more than 120 countries by the end of the year.



Stripe <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/stripe-jumps-back-into-crypto-providing-new-payment-options-for-consumers-and-companies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced partnerships last month</a> with FTX and Blockchain.com to offer support for exchanges, on-ramps, wallets and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces.



Stripe became the first major payments company to support bitcoin payments in 2014, but ended its support of the cryptoasset in 2018. “Bitcoin has evolved to become better-suited to being an asset than being a means of exchange,” <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/ending-bitcoin-support" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stripe wrote</a> at the time.



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Payment Company Stripe Enables Crypto Payouts in USDC

<div id="highlights-block_622bbb9b36233" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Crypto companies have privately complained about poor authorization rates and reliability, Stripe spokesperson says</li>
 <li>Stripe helps FTX users buy crypto and helps the exchange weed out potential fraudsters from legitimate customers</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Payments company Stripe is delving back into crypto, offering support for the space’s exchanges, on-ramps, wallets and NFT marketplaces, and has partnered with FTX and Blockchain.com.



Stripe became the first major payments company to support bitcoin payments in 2014 but ended its support of the cryptoasset in 2018.&nbsp;



“Crypto is going mainstream,” the company wrote in a Thursday blog post. “To better support our customers and continue to grow the GDP of the internet, we are working to give crypto businesses access to today’s global financial infrastructure.”



Stripe co-founder John Collison <a href="https://twitter.com/collision/status/1501961880289480704" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> that the company would offer crypto businesses “not just pay-ins but payouts, KYC and identity verification, fraud prevention and lots more.”



Crypto derivatives exchange FTX and its US affiliate, FTX US, announced Thursday that they will use Stripe to build an onboarding and identity verification flow for users joining the exchange, and to enable payments for users adding funds to their FTX account.



President of FTX US Brett Harrison earlier said integrating with Stripe would provide “greatly increased speed of KYC processing, higher rates of automated approvals and a smoother [user experience] for our customers.”



Stripe allows FTX users to purchase crypto with debit cards and automated clearing house transactions directly from their bank, according to <a href="https://stripe.com/newsroom/stories/ftx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Thursday statement</a>. Stripe Radar uses machine-learning models and signals, such as customer details and billing information, to weed out potential fraudsters from legitimate customers.



“Crypto companies have been poorly served by other payments providers, with many privately complaining of poor authorization rates and reliability,” a Stripe spokesperson told Blockworks. “We are bringing world-leading payments infrastructure to help crypto companies offer better on-ramps for new and existing users.”



Transacting with crypto has historically been too difficult for the average user or business, according to Matthew Gould, founder and CEO of blockchain company Unstoppable Domains.



“The fear of sending money to the wrong address or paying too much in fees has hindered mainstream adoption, and it’s great to see companies like Stripe working to solve this,” he told Blockworks. “Stripe has already penetrated the payments market, and now its users will have better access to secure crypto transactions through a single integration.”



With headquarters in San Francisco and Dublin, Stripe, founded in 2011, supports millions of companies in 120 countries.



&#8220;It is wonderful to see traditional payment companies starting to integrate digital currency payments for vendors and consumers,” Nina Tannenbaum, head of business operation at blockchain protocol Algorand, said. “We are seeing growing adoption of the payments and remittance sector on Algorand, and can appreciate how organizations like Stripe are helping to drive more mainstream adoption of digital assets.”



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