Stripe Launches Stablecoin Payment Services

Worldcoin's Bet on Proof-of-Personhood | Coinbase Acquires Deribit for $2.9B

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Good Morning.

Feels like crypto’s finally growing up. Stripe’s diving into stablecoins, Coinbase just dropped billions on Deribit, and Worldcoin’s making a real play for digital identity. It’s not just hype anymore, teams are building real stuff that actually works at scale.

In Today's Email:

  • What Matters: Stripe Launches Stablecoin Payment Services đź’µ 

  • Founders Highlight: Jayendra Jog & Jeff Feng of Sei 👨 

  • Deal Flow: Coinbase Acquires Deribit for $2.9B 💰️ 

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Narratives: Infra gets real, capital follows function

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WHAT MATTERS

Stripe Launches Stablecoin Payment Services

State of play: Stripe has unveiled a new financial service called "Stablecoin Financial Accounts," which allows businesses to store and send payments globally using stablecoins.

  • CEO Patrick Collison highlighted stablecoins, alongside AI, as major transformative forces reshaping the economy.

  • The service aims to simplify global financial transactions by offering programmable money management.

  • Stripe is also developing a stablecoin payments pilot specifically for businesses outside the US, UK, and EU.

What’s next: Analysts predict the stablecoin market could expand significantly, reaching a $3.7T valuation by 2030, up from today's $242B.

For builders and investors: Builders should focus on creating programmable, stablecoin-compatible infrastructure to capture the rising demand for streamlined global payments.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Jayendra Jog & Jeff Feng of Sei

Left to Right: Jeff Feng and Jayendra Jog

Intro: Jayendra Jog & Jeff Feng is the Co-Founders of Sei, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for high-speed, scalable, and secure transactions, particularly for trading and DeFi applications.

Previous background: Before Sei, Jeff worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs (2017-2020), focusing on Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT). He then joined Coatue Management (2020-2022) as a venture investor.

  • Jeff graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, earning a B.S. in Business Administration with Highest Honors.

Jayendra was a Software Engineer at Robinhood (2018–2021), leading projects in crypto KYC, user onboarding, Kafka task queues, and margin stock loans. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UCLA, where he led multiple engineering societies.

The big idea: Jayendra and Jeff are aiming to address the challenges of slow speeds, high costs, and poor user experience in DeFi trading by offering a faster, more scalable, and more capital-efficient platform through Sei.

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INSIGHTS

Worldcoin's Ambitious Bet on Proof-of-Personhood

State of play: Worldcoin ($WLD) is rapidly scaling as the leading Proof-of-Personhood network, uniquely bridging blockchain verification with real-world identity through iris scanning.

  • With 12M verified users globally and aggressive US expansion underway, the project positions itself as crucial infrastructure against identity fraud in crypto and AI.

  • Beyond mere blockchain utility, Worldcoin’s partnerships with mainstream platforms like Visa, Stripe, and Tinder indicate ambitious plans to become a critical player in digital identity verification and trust-based apps.

  • Potential monetization avenues, such as enhanced credit scoring, seamless travel authentication, secure e-voting, and verified digital advertising, make it a compelling project in a future dominated by digital identities.

Read Marco’s full take on why Worldcoin is one of the most interesting projects to watch

DEAL FLOWS

Coinbase Acquires Deribit for $2.9B

Deal flows soared this week - we saw $3B in deals đź’Ľ 

Coinbase is acquiring crypto options exchange Deribit for $2.9B, comprising $700M in cash and 11M shares of Coinbase stock.

  • This acquisition significantly boosts Coinbase's position in the US crypto derivatives market.

  • Deribit recorded a strong performance, processing $1.2T in trading volume in 2024.

  • The deal follows a competitive bidding process with Kraken, highlighting growing interest and competition in the derivatives sector.

Deal flows in the past week:

QUICK BITES

  • Stripe launches stablecoin payment services.

  • Coinbase acquires Deribit in record $2.9B deal.

  • Meta explores stablecoins to reduce payment costs.

  • CZ confirms filing for presidential pardon from Trump.

  • Sei weighs proposal to deprecate native Cosmos accounts.

  • USD1 stablecoin market cap surges from $130M to over $2B.

  • US Senate votes to halt stablecoin bill as rising tensions surge.

  • Hut 8 posts $134M net loss in Q1 as company invests in new strategy.

  • Arbitrum DAO approves 35M ARB allocation to tokenized US Treasurys.

  • Unichain surpasses Ethereum as top chain for Uniswap v4 by txs volume.

  • Ethereum jumps 20% after Pectra upgrade, marking largest gain in four years.

  • Coinbase misses Q1 earnings & revenue estimates as trading activity dips 10%.

NOTEWORTHY READS

  • Pix’s thread on How to get better at crypto (using science)

  • Arndxt’s read on Liquidity Wars 3.0 where Bribes Become Markets

  • TradeStream’s thread on Pair Trading 101 - stop pretending you’re a quant

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.