Stripe unveils AI payments model & stablecoin accounts amid growth

Stripe has announced a range of new products aimed at supporting businesses with artificial intelligence and stablecoins.

The company unveiled the world's first AI foundation model for payments, promising new capabilities for combating payment fraud as well as optimising transactions. This development was introduced alongside expanded money management features that include stablecoin-powered financial accounts, now accessible in 101 countries and expected to launch in Australia at a later stage.

Stripe serves a significant portion of large global enterprises, reporting that it powers half of the Fortune 100 and 78% of the Forbes AI 50. The business disclosed that total payment volume processed through Stripe in the previous year reached USD $1.4 trillion, representing a 38% year-on-year increase and approximately 1.3% of global GDP. The combined revenue growth for businesses operating on Stripe is reportedly seven times higher than S&P 500 companies.

Announcing the new releases, Patrick Collison, Stripe Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: "There are not one, but two gale-force tailwinds, well off the Beaufort scale, dramatically reshaping the economic landscape around us: AI and stablecoins. Our job is to pull these technologies forward so businesses on Stripe can benefit from them right away."

Stripe's introduction of the Payments Foundation Model marks what it describes as a first in the industry: a large foundation model specifically trained for payments, with a dataset of tens of billions of transactions. Compared with previous task-specific models, this approach allows for the identification of subtle payment signals. The company reported that its previous fraud detection models reduced card testing attacks by 80% over two years, and adoption of the new model increased detection of complex attacks against large businesses by a further 64% overnight.

The company also launched Stablecoin Financial Accounts, providing businesses in eligible regions the ability to hold stablecoin balances, accept funds via cryptocurrency or traditional payment rails, and transfer stablecoins globally. These accounts are designed to support entrepreneurs in countries facing currency volatility, offering a method to manage inflation risks and access international economies. Initial support covers USDC and Bridge's USDB, with plans to broaden stablecoin options.

This offering is made possible shortly after Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge, and comes at a time when stablecoin transaction volumes have grown over 50% in the past year. The firm highlighted demand from global companies for streamlined, lower-cost international money transfers. Addressing the challenge of spending stablecoins at merchants who only accept fiat currencies, Stripe referenced a collaboration between Bridge and Visa that allows issuance of Visa cards linked to stablecoin wallets. The cards enable purchases at standard point-of-sale, automatically converting stablecoins to local fiat currency for merchants. Fintech firms including Ramp, Squads and Airtm plan to use these stablecoin-linked cards in multiple markets worldwide.

Stripe has also deepened partnerships with major technology companies. NVIDIA migrated its entire subscriber base for its GeForce Now cloud gaming service to Stripe Billing in six weeks—a process that traditionally takes significantly longer—making it the fastest migration of its kind to date.

Managing multiple payment providers is a challenge for large enterprises. Stripe's new Orchestration feature is designed to centralise, monitor, and optimise payment routing across providers directly from the Stripe Dashboard. Jordan McKee, Head of Fintech Research at S&P Global Market Intelligence, commented: "For enterprises with complex payments architecture, orchestration is essential. Being able to manage and optimise performance across payment providers in one place gives businesses a level of control and visibility that could unlock meaningful performance gains."

Other product updates include support for 25 new payment methods, expansion of Stripe Tax to 102 countries, integration of Klarna on Link, and broader hardware compatibility for Stripe Terminal. The company also introduced Managed Payments for overseeing global tax, fraud, dispute and fulfilment requirements, as well as Smart Disputes, an AI-based tool that reportedly helps companies win 13% more chargebacks. Additional upgrades were detailed for usage-based billing, global payouts to third parties, and new tools for platforms such as enhanced fraud control and dashboard features.

Stripe's product launches extend to enabling managed credit card issuing for consumers and the addition of Radar fraud protection for ACH and SEPA payments, resulting in average fraud rate reductions of 20% and 42% on those channels respectively.