Last October, the payments giant Stripe announced a blockbuster $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, a little-known startup focused on the dollar-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins. But Stripe’s acquisition, alongside the thawing regulatory environment under the Trump administration, has catapulted stablecoins into the mainstream. Almost a year after buying Bridge, Stripe is launching a product that will entail the $106 billion fintech’s further incorporating stablecoins into its core business—and potentially upending global payments. Like Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge, Open Issuance could be a major catalyst for driving stablecoin adoption by non-crypto businesses, though the early adopters are all blockchain firms. Crypto proponents have long argued that stablecoins represent the natural next step, facilitating near-instantaneous transactions with minuscule fees by using blockchain technology.