Stripe-Owned Bridge Goes Live With Celo Support

@Stablecoin platform Bridge, owned by payments giant @Stripe, has extended its stablecoin orchestration infrastructure to @Celo, the Ethereum Layer 2 network that has quietly built one of the most active stablecoin ecosystems in crypto.

A Network Built on Stablecoin Fundamentals

The move is not arbitrary. Celo has processed over $65 billion in stablecoin volume since its March 2025 migration to an Ethereum Layer 2, and in doing so became the number one L2 network by daily active users, ahead of Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism. The network currently hosts 25 native stablecoin assets and has recorded 1.3 billion total transactions.

Celo's focus on stablecoins is not a recent pivot. According to an official release, the network has prioritised stablecoin infrastructure since its mainnet launch in 2020, well before the broader industry embraced the narrative. It has since become the leading transport layer for USDT by weekly active users, ahead of Tron, driven largely by emerging-market users in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia sending money via mobile phones.

MiniPay Drives Real-World Adoption

The clearest proof of Celo's stablecoin traction is @minipay, the self-custodial wallet built into @opera's browser. MiniPay has processed over 300 million stablecoin transactions and grown to more than 11 million wallets.Built on Opera's distribution footprint across Africa, MiniPay allows a user in Nigeria or Kenya to open the Opera browser on a low-cost Android device and send USDT to any phone number for near-zero fees, with no bank account required.

Bridge's decision to add $CELO support fits the platform's broader expansion strategy. Via Bridge, users can now move money across additional blockchains including Celo, alongside Tempo, Plasma, and Sui.Businesses use Bridge as a single platform to receive, store, convert, issue, and spend stablecoins.Bridge, which received conditional OCC approval in February 2026 to form a national trust bank, would use the licence to issue and manage stablecoins under federal oversight.

For Celo, the integration adds a direct connection to one of the most widely used stablecoin infrastructure platforms in fintech, and brings fresh developer and enterprise reach to a network that has already demonstrated it can handle real-world payment volume at scale.

Sources:
Stripe Sessions 2026: All Announcements (Stripe Blog)
Celo 2025 Year in Review (Celo Foundation Blog)
Bridge Wins OCC National Bank Trust Charter Approval (CoinDesk)