Stripe has taken another major step toward merging traditional finance with blockchain technology, introducing a new feature that allows companies to accept stablecoin payments for subscription-based services.
The update positions Stripe as one of the first global payment processors to fully integrate recurring crypto payments into its ecosystem.
The company, which first enabled stablecoin transactions last year, says the addition is designed to solve the long-standing challenges of cross-border payments — high fees, slow processing, and frequent errors. Stripe noted that many of its fastest-growing partners, especially in the artificial intelligence sector, rely heavily on international customers. Although 19 of the top 20 AI companies using Stripe are based in the U.S., about 60% of their total revenue comes from abroad.
Some of these firms, like Shadeform, have already begun shifting their billing models. According to Stripe’s data, nearly one-fifth of Shadeform’s payment volume now comes through stablecoins, with transactions settling almost instantly at roughly half the cost of traditional methods.
The new feature gives businesses several capabilities: they can let customers pay for subscriptions using stablecoins, manage both fiat and crypto transactions through a unified Stripe Dashboard, and integrate with tools like Stripe Billing and the Optimized Checkout Suite.
At the technical level, Stripe has built a custom smart contract system that supports over 400 crypto wallets and allows users to register a wallet as a payment method. This innovation eliminates the need for manual reauthorization each billing cycle — one of the biggest obstacles to recurring blockchain-based payments.
Early adopters, including AI startup Higgsfield, are already seeing the benefits. CEO Alex Mashrabov said that stablecoin subscriptions “reduce the cost of revenue from global customers, attract more tech-savvy users, and expand reach to audiences without access to traditional banking.”
With this upgrade, Stripe continues to blur the lines between fintech and crypto, signaling how stablecoins are evolving from niche settlement tools into a practical backbone for global commerce.
