Payments giant Stripe unveiled a stablecoin issuance platform and AI commerce tools at its New York showcase on Tuesday, marking a push to tie its payments business to the growing role of digital dollars and artificial intelligence in online transactions. Open Issuance, underpinned by stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge that Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion last year, enables firms to launch their own stablecoins, minting and redeeming tokens with just a few lines of code. Phantom’s CASH token, an open-loop stablecoin by the popular crypto wallet provider, will be the first to debut through Open Issuance, the firm announced. The recently-launched stablecoins of decentralized exchange Hyperliquid's USDH and MetaMask's mUSD will also be issued through the protocol, with more projects already in the pipeline, the firm said. "If money movement is core to your business, you should build with stablecoins. But don't build on top of someone else's coin," Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, said in a statement. "With Open Issuance, businesses can build on top of stablecoins that they customize and control, so that the benefits of this important technology flow directly to the people and businesses using them." Issuers can balance reserves between Treasuries and cash, with asset management handled by BlackRock, Fidelity, Superstate and Lead Bank. Stripe’s network ensures interoperability across tokens and aims to offer lower conversion costs. The AI side of the showcase centered on the Agentic Commerce Protocol, developed with ChatGPT developer OpenAI. The offering allows merchants to transact with AI agents while keeping control over fulfillment and customer relationships, the firm said. Partners including Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic are also testing the standard. These product launches build on a series of blockchain-focused moves by Stripe. In addition to acquiring Bridge, Stripe recently bought crypto wallet provider Privy, expanding its in-house crypto infrastructure tools. The firm is also working with crypto venture firm Paradigm to develop Tempo , a payments-oriented blockchain designed to handle transactions at scale. "With the advent of stablecoins and AI, we’re at the dawn of a new online economy," Will Gaybrick, Stripe's president of technology and business, said in a statement, adding that the company is focusing on "pulling frontier technology out of the experimental into the mainstream." Read more: Why Circle and Stripe (And Many Others) Are Launching Their Own Blockchains
