Stripe Adds Twitter Support

Twitter users have already been able to tip with Bitcoin, but now they’ll have a new option: paying in stablecoin. Online payments firm Stripe launched a pilot program today that allows payments to be made through USD Coin ($USDC.X).

Twitter will be the first company in the pilot. On Friday, users will have the option of taking earnings from their Super Follow and Ticketed Spaces in Polygon-compatible USDC. These features allow users to monetize their audience on the social media giant.

The payment company said it would expand crypto payment options to more than 120 countries by the end of the year, adding support for other cryptocurrencies beyond USD Coin.

Polygon, a layer-2 blockchain network designed to make Ethereum easier and faster, will handle all payouts on the Stripe Connect platform. The company chose Polygon because of its speed and low transaction fees. 

Stripe’s latest move towards cryptocurrency following the removal of Bitcoin support in 2018 is a sign of how large financial firms are warming up to digital assets. 

Company’s product manager Karan Sharma shared the same sentiment on his blog, saying: “While the ‘store of value’ aspects of cryptocurrencies typically receive the most attention, we view the prospect of ‘open-access global financial rails’ as being at least equally compelling.”

Despite its second dive into crypto, Stripe is somewhat late to the party. Several of its rivals, including PayPal and Block, have embraced crypto payments before and are now reaping the benefits.

With Web3 and decentralized finance flourishing in the digital age, it appears the company doesn’t want to miss out. It is going to be a fierce battle between digital payments firms in the near future and what they have to offer is sure to be fascinating.

Bitrue, a cryptocurrency exchange platform that got #5 on the trust score by CoinGecko, is excited after launching its native token $BTR. The token will underpin the platform’s features and user experience. To know more about it, we chatted with its Chief Marketing Officer, Adam O’Neill:  

ST: With so many crypto exchanges offering products and services, what makes Bitrue special?

AN: Our emergence comes with a unique approach to customer service. Our philosophy is to always listen to the voices of our customers, so we’ve developed strong links with several communities including those of XRP, and Cardano (ADA). These strong ties have helped us develop products and custom services that benefit these communities directly.

Additionally, we rank as the very first crypto exchange to list several projects which have gone on to have huge successes. Some of these include Terra (LUNA), and GALA, both of which have gone 100x from their listing prices. We do our best to stay at the edge, and as a result, we’ve developed a number of innovative projects before anyone else. One of our products, Power Piggy, was the first crypto investment service in the world — and our newly announced BMAX will revolutionize how users interact with DeFi moving forward.

ST: You’ve recently launched your native token BTR. Explain how native tokens help crypto platforms grow their business. And which cryptocurrency could be paired with BTR?

AN: The point of launching BTR was not to follow the bandwagon, but rather to bring unique utilities to the exchange for the benefit of our community. Platform tokens are used to power the features of the exchange. At Bitrue, BTR is used to increase the interest rate for investments, reduce trading fees, and permit entry into certain airdrops among others.

Our native token has a broad relationship with many other coins which it forms a trading pair with and BTR has been paired with USDT, USDC, USDT, XRP, ETH, and BTC for quite some time now. We’ve also recently launched BTR as a base pair, adding an additional 12 pairs including GALA, LUNA, SOL, and more.

ST: Are you planning to integrate more popular/mainstream cryptocurrencies into your platform?

AN: At Bitrue, we are always open to the emergence of new and innovative projects. When they make their debut, we ensure we add their tokens to our platform. 

While this is one of our strategies to expose our community to the best tokens in the industry, we also list existing coins that for some reason are growing in popularity. For one, we all know that traders and investors like to take advantage of trending coins, as their volatility often gives them a positive swing. We want to make sure our users are presented with all they need to boost their trading engagement. However, new listings are often decided by community voice or through the BTR Vote feature.

ST: You recently secured Cardano’s support for your upcoming crypto product launch. What’s that all about?

AN: Getting Cardano’s support for our upcoming product launch should not be a surprise. As far as the crypto ecosystem is concerned, collaboration is one of the moves that bring the best in a project as one tree does not make a forest. Our relationship with Cardano is a mutually benefiting one. It stems from a couple of years we have been working to support Cardano. 

For example, we’ve contributed open-source code for ADA wallet integration that is now being used by several exchanges. We were also the first centralized exchange to support Cardano native assets, as well as the first exchange to delegate to community staking pools, assisting with network decentralization.

ST: Crypto exchanges face scrutiny from regulators all over the world, which ultimately affects investors as well. How do you deal with it and why should investors trust Bitrue amid the uncertainties? 

AN: Bitrue has been operational for close to 4 years, and the fact that we have not been in the crosshairs of any regulator should serve as an indicator that we fully comply with all applicable laws. We understand that the regulatory landscape governing the broader crypto industry is still developing and at best unclear in many regions. We try our best to offer our products to clients in jurisdictions where the laws are clearer, as we seem to have gotten it right thus far. 

In terms of trust from investors, we believe trust is earned and not demanded. With the high demand from investors to offer some products — as well as the embrace of such products when they finally go live — the numbers speak for themselves, and many will attest to the fact that Bitrue is one of the most trusted trading platforms out there.

Tron, a cryptocurrency created by controversial Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, is reportedly planning to launch an algorithmic stablecoin called $USDD. The coin might compete with the likes of Terra USD ($UST), Dai ($DAI), and other algo stables.

Algorithmic stablecoins are a type of stablecoins that aren’t backed by fiat currency or another crypto. Instead, algo stablecoins set their monetary policy using code – which keeps the price pegged to the value of an asset. As the name implies, an algorithm underlying these stablecoins increases supply if a deflationary trend is noticed in the token and decreases supply if purchasing power declines — and that’s how the price of an algorithmic stablecoin is determined.

The Tron team might be trying to draft off the meteoric growth of TerraUSD, a stablecoin issued by Terra, which has amassed a multi-billion dollar market cap because of its unprecedented rewards. 

$USDD will look to steal some of Terra USD’s thunder by offering users a basic “risk-free” interest rate of 30% APY. The high rate takes after Terra USD’s double-digit interest rate on platforms such as Anchor Protocol and other cross-chain DEXes.

$USDD will be launched on May 5, 2022. The new stablecoin will be backed by Tron’s native token, $TRX.X — which soared by 10% after the announcement, hovering around $0.06. 

In a separate announcement, Tron DAO said it intended to raise $10 billion from blockchain industry players over the next six to 12 months. The idea is to ensure that stablecoins issued on Tron, such as $USDD, have liquidity in times of crisis. This move shares some striking similarities with Terra’s Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) purchasing Bitcoins in order to provide more cushion to its stablecoin TerraUSD.

Justin Sun wrote an open letter to the Tron DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) explaining that the new stablecoin would represent a departure from the chain’s heavy dependence on Tether ($USDT), which is the world’s largest stablecoin. However, unlike USDD, Tether’s centralized nature has made it a topic of concern among crypto maxis – namely because of the lack of transparency surrounding its reserves.

Sun said that $USDD will usher in the “stablecoin 3.0 era.”