Fintech titan Stripe lets Twitter stars earn cryptocurrency

ONLINE payments giant Stripe on Friday (Apr 22) said it will start letting Twitter stars get paid in a dollar-pegged form of cryptocurrency in the latest endorsement of digital money.

Stripe said in a blog post that it is eager to expand the option to other online platforms, where “creators” who attract audiences are provided with ways to make money such as subscriptions and access to exclusive content.

“We’re focused on helping creators who drive those conversations earn money and connect with their audiences in new ways,” Twitter creators product lead Esther Crawford said in the post.

“We’re excited to begin offering crypto payouts to creators via Stripe so they have more choice in how they get paid.”

The feature debuts as Twitter tries to fend off an unwanted campaign by billionaire Elon Musk to buy the one-to-many messaging platform, and as backers of cryptocurrency strive to make it go mainstream.

Stripe will do the behind-the-scenes work to enable a “select group” of popular Twitter figures to get paid in USDC stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, the companies said in the post.

“With crypto payouts for Connect, Twitter will make it possible for creators who opt in to have their earnings paid out to a cryptocurrency wallet,” the blog post explained.

“This will enable many people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to hold dollars to do so.”

The Stripe Connect payment system is used to send money in more than 70 countries, the company said.

The financial technology firm said it plans to add more partners,countries and cryptocurrencies in the future.

For a time Stripe accepted transactions in bitcoin but stopped in 2018, citing concerns about timing and fees. It has recently changed course, announcing partnerships with crypto exchange platforms FTX and Blockchain.com. AFP