The payments giant Stripe has announced its acquisition of Privy, a web3 wallet infrastructure provider that specializes in embedding crypto wallets directly into apps and websites—a move that underscores the company’s increasingly aggressive push into digital assets following its $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge earlier this year.
The acquisition, announced June 11, 2025, brings aboard a company founded in 2021 by Henri Stern and Asta Li that has managed to raise over $40 million from notable investors including Ribbit Capital and Coinbase Ventures.
While financial terms remain undisclosed (because transparency is apparently optional in crypto deals), Privy commanded a $230 million valuation as recently as March 2025—a figure that speaks to the premium companies are willing to pay for genuine blockchain utility rather than speculative hype.
Privy’s core proposition addresses one of crypto’s most persistent friction points: the cumbersome onboarding process that traditionally requires users to navigate external wallet applications.
The embedded wallet approach tackles crypto’s notorious user experience problem by eliminating the tedious multi-app juggling act.
By embedding wallets directly into platforms, the company claims to support over 75 million accounts across more than 1,000 teams, with clients including OpenSea, Blackbird, and Toku utilizing the infrastructure for streamlined crypto transactions.
The strategic logic becomes clearer when viewed through Stripe’s broader ambitions. Stripe recently launched new stablecoin financial accounts for enterprises, enabling companies to hold balances in stablecoins while conducting global transactions seamlessly. The integrated platform aims to connect Privy’s wallet capabilities with existing Stripe and Bridge infrastructure to enable new Internet-native financial services globally.
Rather than merely dipping toes into digital assets, CEO Patrick Collison appears committed to building robust blockchain integration capabilities that could transform how mainstream applications handle both fiat and crypto transactions.
The embedded wallet technology theoretically reduces user drop-off by eliminating the need to juggle multiple applications—though whether this actually translates to mass adoption remains an open question. This integration could enhance the safety and efficiency of transactions within the broader Web3 ecosystem, where platforms are increasingly combining AI-driven insights with blockchain infrastructure.
Privy will continue operating independently while integrating into Stripe’s expanding suite of crypto tools, a structure that suggests Stripe recognizes the delicate balance required when absorbing specialized blockchain companies.
The acquisition positions Stripe as a serious contender in the digital asset infrastructure space, though whether embedded wallets represent the future of crypto payments or merely another technological stepping stone remains to be determined by market forces that have proven notoriously unpredictable.
