Payment Company Stripe Enables Crypto Payouts in USDC

The payments company Stripe has enabled crypto payments in USD Coin (USDC), and Twitter influencers will be the first to use it.

Connect, the platform Stripe created for payouts in 2015, will be updated to include payouts in crypto. Companies currently use Connect to automatically send payouts to about 70 countries in their local currencies.

Stripe’s first partner, Twitter, will allow selected influencers to receive earnings from the social media platform using crypto-based rails. Connect is already used by Twitter to pay influencers through its Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows products.

The company plans to process payments in USDC stablecoin via the Polygon PoS (MATIC) network. Influencers’ earnings will be transferred into wallets compatible with Polygon, such as Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, or Rainbow Wallet. Earnings can either be held as USDC or converted into another currency.

Karan Sharma, Stripe’s product manager, said that the company plans to add additional rails and payout currencies over time. By the end of the year, Stripe hopes to support crypto payouts in more than 120 countries.