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Coinbase has unveiled a new service, Coinbase Payments, designed to push stablecoins into the mainstream of e-commerce by simplifying crypto acceptance for merchants.
The move signals a broader push into the global payments market by the US-based crypto exchange, seeking to challenge established players like Visa and Mastercard.
Announced shortly after the US Senate passed landmark legislation on stablecoins, the new platform enables merchants to accept USD Coin (USDC) around the clock.
Coinbase launches e-commerce payments
Coinbase Payments
It operates on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 network, offering faster and cheaper settlements than traditional card networks.
The service is already live on Shopify, which recently partnered with both Coinbase and Stripe, and is aimed at marketplaces such as eBay and other platforms serving SMEs.
Crucially, Coinbase Payments does not require merchants to possess any blockchain expertise.
Its checkout suite supports popular wallets such as Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and Phantom, and allows seamless browser-native payments.
The platform’s infrastructure mimics existing card payment flows – offering features such as authorisation, refunds, ledgering, and recurring billing – but underpinned by blockchain protocols for efficiency.
3 x Modular Components
The offering comprises three modular components: Stablecoin Checkout, Ecommerce Engine, and Commerce Payments Protocol.
Together, they facilitate gasless, smart contract-powered transactions while retaining the user experience and reliability of traditional rails.
Coinbase claims the system ensures global 24/7 transaction capabilities with lower fees and quicker settlements.
This development comes amid a wave of innovation in stablecoin-based payments.
Companies like Stripe and PayPal are also integrating blockchain technologies, while Circle, the issuer of USDC, continues to build out its own payment network.
Coinbase revealed that stablecoins processed over $30 trillion in transactions globally in the past year – a threefold increase year-on-year – highlighting their growing significance in digital commerce.
Coinbase also recently launched x402, a new open payments protocol based on the HTTP “402 Payment Required” status code.
This novel approach allows stablecoin transactions to be embedded directly into web services, APIs, and even AI agents – further expanding the practical reach of crypto-native payment solutions.
Following the announcement, Coinbase’s shares (COIN) surged 16%, while Circle (CRCL) jumped 25%, underscoring investor optimism around the move.
As stablecoins become increasingly integrated into online commerce, Coinbase’s entry into the payments space could mark a decisive turning point for the future of decentralised finance in the real economy.
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