# Bridge

Updated: September 26, 2026

> Bridge is a stablecoin payment orchestration and issuance-as-a-service provider owned by Stripe since February 2025 (a deal the press valued at $1.1 billion). Founded in 2022 by Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, it raised $58 million from Sequoia, Ribbit, Index and Haun before the acquisition. Bridge issues its own USDB and client-branded stablecoins through its Open Issuance platform (Phantom CASH, mUSD for MetaMask, KlarnaUSD, DLUSD for Deel, MGUSD for MoneyGram), powers Stripe's stablecoin accounts in 101 countries and stablecoin-funded Visa cards. Its regulatory perimeter: US state money transmitter licences, conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank (February 2026), and CASP and EMI licences in Luxembourg passported across the EU (June 2026).

- **Type per classification**: 1. Payment orchestration; also 2. Issuance as a service
- **Founded**: 2022, Zach Abrams and Sean Yu
- **Headquarters**: San Antonio, Texas (registered address); team at Stripe, San Francisco
- **Ownership**: Stripe, Inc. (deal closed February 4, 2025)
- **Leadership**: Zach Abrams, CEO
- **Legal entities**: Bridge Ventures LLC (US, parent); Bridge Building Inc. (US licences); Bridge Building S.A. (Luxembourg); Bridge Building Sp. z o.o. (Poland); Bridge Building Limited (rest of world)
- **Licences**: US state money transmitter licences (NMLS 2450917); conditional OCC approval for Bridge National Trust Bank (February 12, 2026); MiCA CASP and EMI, CSSF Luxembourg (June 29, 2026)
- **Issues**: USDB; client-branded — Phantom CASH, mUSD (MetaMask), KlarnaUSD, DLUSD (Deel), MGUSD (MoneyGram), USDH
- **Regions**: US, EU/EEA, Latin America; Stripe accounts in 101 countries
- **Listing**: Private company within Stripe

## Structure and history

Bridge was founded in 2022 by Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, alumni of Coinbase and Square. The company operated without public funding rounds until August 2024, when it disclosed $58 million raised, including a $40 million Series A led by Sequoia and Ribbit with Index Ventures and Haun Ventures; the valuation was about $200 million and annualized payment volume exceeded $5 billion at the time. Early clients included SpaceX (repatriating Starlink revenue from countries with currency controls), Coinbase, Stellar and Strike. On October 21, 2024 Stripe announced the acquisition of Bridge — for $1.1 billion according to the press, Stripe's largest deal at the time; it closed on February 4, 2025. Bridge kept its brand and leadership and operates as "a Stripe company", while Stripe separately acquired the embedded wallet provider Privy (June 2025) and, with Paradigm, incubated the payments blockchain Tempo (announced September 2025).

The group's legal structure: the parent Bridge Ventures LLC (Delaware, a Stripe subsidiary), Bridge Building Inc. — the licensed money transmitter and issuer of USDB, Bridge Building S.A. in Luxembourg for the EEA, Bridge Building Sp. z o.o. in Poland and Bridge Building Limited for other countries. The registered address is in San Antonio, Texas; correspondence with the OCC uses a South San Francisco address, and the team moved to Stripe's headquarters after the deal.

## Products

Bridge sells two sets of APIs: orchestration — accepting, holding, converting and paying out funds between fiat and stablecoins, including virtual accounts in dollars and euros — and issuance. Orchestration underpins Stripe's Stablecoin Financial Accounts, launched on May 7, 2025 in 101 countries with USDC and USDB support. USDB is Bridge's own stablecoin, issued the same day and backed by cash and BlackRock money market funds.

The Open Issuance platform (announced September 26, 2025 and presented at Stripe Tour New York on September 30) lets a client issue a stablecoin under its own brand while Bridge retains the licence, reserves, minting and redemption; reserve managers are BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and Superstate, with Lead Bank providing liquidity. Tokens issued on the platform include Phantom CASH (the first), mUSD for MetaMask (announced August 21, 2025, on-chain minting via the M0 protocol), USDH for Hyperliquid, KlarnaUSD (November 25, 2025, on Tempo), DLUSD for Deel (June 3, 2026, settled on Tempo, held in Privy wallets, starting in Argentina) and MGUSD for MoneyGram (June 2, 2026, on Stellar, Fireblocks custody). According to the August 2026 digest issue, Bridge's Luxembourg entity also issues Revolut's euro stablecoin, introduced on August 26, 2026. As of August 2026 Bridge supports tokenized euro, Mexican peso and pound, with the Brazilian real in preparation.

The card business is built with Visa and the issuing bank Lead Bank: on April 30, 2025 stablecoin-funded cards launched in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile; by March 3, 2026 the programme was live in 18 countries with a plan to reach 100+ countries by the end of 2026, including Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East; the Phantom and MetaMask wallets issue such cards on Bridge's infrastructure.

## Licences and regulation

In the US, Bridge Building Inc. holds state money transmitter licences (NMLS 2450917) and acts as issuer of USDB and client tokens. In October 2025 the group applied for a national trust bank charter; on February 12, 2026 the OCC granted preliminary conditional approval (Corporate Decision 1365) to organize Bridge National Trust Bank in New York, wholly owned by Bridge Ventures LLC, with authority for dollar stablecoin issuance, fiduciary digital asset custody, orchestration and reserve management. In parallel, an application was filed with the NYDFS for a limited purpose trust company to issue USDB and serve New York residents. The company describes its model as ready for the GENIUS Act.

In the EU, Bridge Building S.A. received MiCA CASP and EMI licences from Luxembourg's CSSF on June 29, 2026 (announced July 2), passported to all 27 member states: named euro IBANs, client-branded euro stablecoins and crypto services. No registrations in the UK, Singapore or Brazil were found in available sources.

## Risks and public objections

In February 2026 The Information reported that Bridge's services had been used by clients with flows to Venezuela via the Kontigo app; Bridge subsequently prohibited services in Venezuela, Afghanistan and Belarus, no transactions with sanctioned persons were reported, and no regulatory action followed. In November 2025 the NCRC filed an objection to the charter with the OCC, citing Stripe's earlier disputes with state authorities and the FTC. No outages, breaches or lawsuits against Bridge itself were found.

## What to watch

- The OCC's final decision on Bridge National Trust Bank and the NYDFS response to the trust company application.
- Expansion of the Visa card programme to 100+ countries by the end of 2026.
- New tokens on Open Issuance and the launch of the Brazilian real.
- Bridge's role in the Open USD consortium, where Bridge founder Zach Abrams leads the operator Open Standard.

## Sources

- [OCC, Corporate Decision 1365 on conditional approval of Bridge National Trust Bank (February 2026)](https://www.occ.gov/topics/charters-and-licensing/interpretations-and-decisions/2026/cd1365.pdf)
- [Bridge, on conditional OCC approval (February 2026)](https://www.bridge.xyz/blog/bridge-receives-occ-conditional-approval-to-organize-a-federally-chartered-national-trust-bank)
- [Bridge, US licences and registrations](https://www.bridge.xyz/legal/licenses/us-licenses-and-registrations)
- [Bridge, non-US licences](https://www.bridge.xyz/legal/licenses/non-us-licenses)
- [Bridge, on MiCA and EMI authorisations across all 27 EU member states (July 2026)](https://www.bridge.xyz/blog/bridge-secures-mica-and-emi-authorisations-across-all-27-eu-member-states)
- [AMF, CASP white list: Bridge Building S.A.](https://www.amf-france.org/en/warnings/white-lists/casp/bridge-building-sa)
- [Stripe, on completing the Bridge acquisition (February 2025)](https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/stripe-completes-bridge-acquisition)
- [TechCrunch, on the Stripe–Bridge closing and valuation (February 2025)](https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/05/stripe-makes-1-1-billion-crypto-bet-as-it-closes-on-bridge-acquisition/)
- [The Block, on the $58M funding (August 2024)](https://www.theblock.co/post/313830/stablecoin-money-movement-firm-bridge-raises-58-million-in-funding)
- [Fortune, on Bridge's clients and volumes (August 2024)](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-coinbase-square-vets-aim-160000593.html)
- [Stripe, on stablecoin financial accounts in 101 countries (May 2025)](https://stripe.com/blog/introducing-stablecoin-financial-accounts)
- [Ledger Insights, on Stripe's stablecoin accounts and the USDB launch (May 2025)](https://www.ledgerinsights.com/stripe-rolls-out-stablecoin-accounts-in-101-countries-as-bridge-launches-usdb/)
- [Bridge, on Open Issuance (September 2025)](https://www.bridge.xyz/blog/introducing-open-issuance)
- [Stripe, on Open Issuance at Stripe Tour New York (September 2025)](https://stripe.com/blog/introducing-open-issuance-from-bridge)
- [M0, on mUSD for MetaMask with Bridge (August 2025)](https://www.m0.org/press-releases/metamask-becomes-first-self-custodial-wallet-to-introduce-its-native-stablecoin-in-partnership-with-bridge-and-m0)
- [PYMNTS, on KlarnaUSD on Tempo (November 2025)](https://www.pymnts.com/blockchain/2025/klarna-debuts-first-stablecoin-klarnausd-on-tempo-blockchain/)
- [Stripe, on DLUSD for Deel (June 2026)](https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/deel-and-stripe)
- [PR Newswire, on MoneyGram's MGUSD with Bridge (June 2026)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moneygram-launches-mgusd-a-stablecoin-to-power-its-own-global-network-302787799.html)
- [Visa, on the card partnership with Bridge (April 2025)](https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.21371.html)
- [Visa, on expanding Bridge cards to 100+ countries (March 2026)](https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.22206.html)
- [Fortune, interview with Zach Abrams on Asia plans (August 2026)](https://fortune.com/2026/08/28/bridge-founder-zach-abrams-stripe-stablecoins-asia-singapore-dollars/)
- [CoinDesk, on Stripe acquiring Privy (June 2025)](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/06/11/stripe-to-acquire-crypto-wallet-startup-privy-in-bid-to-expand-web3-capabilities)
- [PYMNTS, on The Information's report on sanctions risks (February 2026)](https://www.pymnts.com/cryptocurrency/2026/stripes-stablecoin-expansion-faces-sanctions-scrutiny/)
- [NCRC, comment opposing the trust charter application (November 2025)](https://ncrc.org/ncrc-comment-in-opposition-to-stripe-incs-national-trust-charter-application/)

## Mentioned in the digest

- [August 2026 — Revolut launches a euro stablecoin issued by Bridge's Luxembourg entity under a CSSF licence](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_August_2026)
- [July 2026 — Bridge obtains MiCA CASP and EMI authorisation in Luxembourg; Ramp's stablecoin accounts on the Stripe/Bridge stack](https://stblcns.xyz/reports/State_of_Stablecoins_July_2026)

Canonical: https://stblcns.xyz/en/wiki/infrastructure/bridge