In late August, Bridge, co-founded by former Square and Coinbase employees Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, successfully raised $58 million in funding.
Mission and Funding
On August 29, Bridge raised $58 million, with $40 million invested by Silicon Valley venture firms such as Sequoia and Ribbit. The company's goal is to create a global payment network centered around stablecoins, challenging traditional payment systems like SWIFT and credit cards. Bridge has already begun forging strategic partnerships, including a collaboration with Bitso to enable business-to-business cross-border payments in Latin America using stablecoins.
Bridge's Core Services
Bridge's platform offers two core services: Orchestration and Issuance. The Orchestration service provides APIs that allow users to easily convert between different dollar formats such as USD, EUR, USDC, PYUSD, and USDT. This service ensures seamless cross-border payments and foreign currency exchanges with low fees and instant settlements. The Issuance service enables developers to convert any of these dollar formats into a customized stablecoin. This flexibility reportedly allows businesses to offer digital dollar-based services tailored to their specific needs. Through these services, Bridge aims to empower companies to seamlessly integrate stablecoins into their operations, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective payment system.
Stablecoin Advantages and Challenges
Stablecoin market leaders like USDT and USDC have reached market caps of $118 billion and $34.6 billion, respectively. Stablecoins offer several advantages over traditional fiat currencies, including lower transaction fees and faster settlement times. Despite this, stablecoins face challenges, particularly around their stability and transparency. For example, the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD in 2022 has led to concerns about the reliability of stablecoins. Additionally, USDC's temporary peg loss in 2023 and questions over Tether's accounting practices have also raised doubts about stablecoins. Bridge's founders believe their fintech background gives them a unique edge in navigating these challenges. The team aims to build a stablecoin platform that is reliable and accessible to a broad range of businesses, including crypto startups and traditional fiat companies.
With $58 million in funding, Bridge aims to expand its services and bring stablecoin solutions to a wider audience.
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