Stripe's co-founder says the arrival of layer-two solutions and new networks — as well as the rising popularity of stablecoins and decentralized finance — are “particularly exciting.”
Back in January 2018, the payments platform Stripe announced that it was ending support for Bitcoin payments — arguing that the cryptocurrency was ill-suited to everyday transactions because of high transaction fees and slow confirmation times.
Fast forward three-and-a-half years, and the company has announced that it is hiring four new engineers as it builds a brand-new crypto team — all as part of a push to “build the future of Web3 payments.”
You could argue that Stripe’s initial departure from the world of crypto was ill-timed. A year ago, PayPal unveiled a new service that would allow its customers to buy Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, while Mastercard announced plans to support multiple cryptocurrencies on its network.
John Collison, the co-founder of Stripe, said the arrival of layer-two solutions and new networks — as well as the rising popularity of stablecoins and decentralized finance — are “particularly exciting,” and have inspired the company to take the plunge and get involved once again.
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What the Job Listing Says
Job listings always provide tasty nuggets of information. They can reveal what a company is hoping to achieve with a new department, and even reveal that they’re interested in cryptocurrencies before a public announcement is made.
While one of the staff engineer vacancies is remote, the others are based in New York City, San Francisco and Seattle.
Staff engineers will be responsible for “better building blocks to accept payments, move funds and exchange between fiat and crypto” — working on web and mobile user interfaces as well as identity systems.
These roles are described as senior positions, meaning that successful applicants will be responsible for advising Stripe’s leadership on “key technology and product roadmap considerations” and mentoring colleagues.
