A digital asset
investment fund
Viska is an alternative investment fund based in Iceland that invests in digital assets.
Viska is an alternative investment fund based in Iceland that invests in digital assets.
In a significant move for the adoption of stablecoins within e-commerce, Shopify has announced a new partnership with Stripe, Circle, and Coinbase to bring USDC stablecoin payments directly into the Shopify checkout experience. This collaboration allows select merchants to accept USDC on Base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum, using Shopify Payments (also known as Shop Pay). Importantly, this integration removes the need for third-party crypto plugins or additional wallet interfaces—making stablecoin payments feel as seamless as credit card checkouts.
This recent announcement comes as the US senate has recently passed a new stablecoin bill on 17.6.25, reported by Reuters
What sets this initiative apart is how deeply embedded the stablecoin payment flow is within Shopify’s existing infrastructure. The feature leverages a smart contract–powered payment protocol co-developed by Shopify and Coinbase, mimicking credit card-like payment behavior (such as “authorize now, capture later”) but executed entirely onchain. The protocol includes support for taxes, refunds, inventory reservation, and authorization/capture flows—functions that were previously challenging to implement in blockchain environments.
This means customers can now pay in USDC directly within the Shop Pay interface, while merchants continue to use the exact same dashboard, fulfillment pipeline, and operational tooling they’re already familiar with.
Stripe, which has been quietly building out its crypto capabilities since resuming support in 2022, plays a crucial part in the backend. Through Stripe Connect, it enables automatic conversion of USDC into fiat currency, depositing local cash directly into the merchant’s bank account. Merchants can also choose to retain their funds in USDC and manage payouts to their own crypto wallets.
Stripe’s infrastructure is what allows this experience to scale: the service will initially support merchants in 34 countries, with no additional effort required from their end. Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian summed it up by saying: “Stripe is handling the hard parts of payments… now they’re doing the same for stablecoins.”
The CEOs of both Coinbase and Stripe recently spoke in NYC at the Coinbase State of Crypto Summit 2025. Image via X from Tobe Lutke
Coinbase, meanwhile, has introduced its new Coinbase Payments stack to power this functionality. The stack allows merchants to accept onchain USDC payments without needing any blockchain knowledge. Once a customer initiates a payment, the stack routes it through Base, confirms it onchain, and passes the payment on to Shopify’s systems using standardized APIs and smart contracts.
This new framework supports not just Shopify, but any platform that wants to offer onchain commerce. The fact that it already works with Shopify is a testament to Coinbase’s broader ambition to become the backend of web3-native financial services.
The stablecoin of choice in this system is USDC, issued by Circle, which is widely viewed as one of the most trusted and compliant digital dollar representations in the market. With over $1 trillion in monthly settlement volume, USDC offers the predictability of dollars with the speed and availability of blockchain infrastructure.
For merchants, accepting USDC means avoiding high credit card fees, reducing fraud, and getting access to near-instant settlement. For buyers, it offers a dollar-denominated alternative to crypto tokens—ideal for jurisdictions where volatility or banking access remains a concern.
USDC Monthly Volume from Kaiko Stablecoin Report - May 2025
Currently, the feature is in early access for a limited number of merchants on Base, but Shopify has confirmed plans to roll this out more broadly across its ecosystem later this year. Among the anticipated features is a 1% cashback in local currency on USDC payments—an incentive designed to drive adoption among everyday buyers.
Despite the enthusiasm, some community members have asked why Shopify chose to support only Base initially, even though Stripe already supports USDC across multiple blockchains. The decision appears strategic: Base is fast, cost-efficient, and integrated tightly with Coinbase’s developer ecosystem, which makes it easier to build and test new payment rails.
Last month during a Virtuals Protocol launch, the base network sustained over 1k TPS which moreover demonstrates how much traffic the network can handle. Via X 29.5.25
By embedding stablecoin payments into one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms—without requiring merchants or users to touch crypto wallets or navigate unfamiliar workflows—Shopify, Stripe, Circle, and Coinbase are laying the groundwork for onchain payments to become mainstream.
The simplicity of transacting for both the buyer and the merchant is shown above. Image from Shopify Announcement
As regulatory clarity continues to evolve—especially with bills like the GENIUS Act gaining traction in the U.S.—we may soon see even broader adoption of stablecoin-based commerce. This partnership could be remembered as a major catalyst for the next era of finance: one that’s faster, cheaper, and more globally accessible by design.
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