XDC Turns to Bridge to Support a Stablecoin Settlement Option – Digital Transactions

Companies looking for a faster way to accept payments in fiat currencies but settle in stablecoins may have a new option in an integration announced Wednesday between XDC Tech and Bridge, the stablecoin unit of the payments-technology firm Stripe.

Under the arrangement, merchants can accept dollars or other fiat currencies through accounts offered by Bridge, then settle in stablecoins on XDC Tech in what the latter company says is “near real time.” The arrangement’s speed in part arises from bypassing correspondent banks and multi-day clearing, says XDC Tech, which is based in Singapore and maintains an office in New York City. Bridge has licenses in the United States, the European Union, and Latin America

The arrangement’s attraction, in part, lies in transaction speed, as the companies look toward XDC Tech setting up as a settlement option for payments initiated by AI agents, the parties say. XDC processes transactions in two seconds, at fees less than a hundredth of a penny per payment, the company says, adding it can settle more than 2,000 transactions per second. Licenses held by Bridge, meanwhile, offer agents fast access to systems dealing in fiat currencies, the companies say.

More developments in this arrangement may be coming, the companies hint. “This partnership…is one part of a broader build we are not ready to detail yet, aimed squarely at the agentic economy” says Atul Khekade, a cofounder of XDC Network, the parent company of XDC Tech, in a statement. Stripe acquired Bridge in February last year in a $1.1 billion deal. Stripe made headlines Wednesday with news that it and Advent International have offered $53 billion to acquire the payments giant PayPal.

In related news Thursday, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency company BitPay announced its European unit, BitPay B.V., may operate as a crypto-asset service provider as authorized by the EU Markets in Crypto-Asset Regulation, also known as MiCA, by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).

The authorization allows BitPay’s client merchants in Europe to introduce acceptance of crypto-based payments from anywhere in the European Union. “Receiving a MiCA authorization from the AFM is an important milestone for BitPay and strengthens our ability to serve businesses and consumers with regulated digital asset services across the EU,” said Thom de Jong, chief compliance officer, Europe, at BitPay, in a statement.