Shopify has made a major move in the world of cryptocurrency by enabling merchants to accept USDC stablecoin payments directly through Shopify Payments and Shop Pay. This integration, done in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe, is the most comprehensive crypto integration that Shopify has launched to date.
The rollout of this new feature begins with early access today and will expand to millions of merchants across 34 countries throughout 2025. This integration will allow for seamless crypto transactions through the new Commerce Payment Protocol, which is built on Coinbase’s Base blockchain.
Stripe’s integration ensures that merchants receive settlements in their preferred local currency or USDC directly to external wallets. This eliminates the complexity traditionally associated with cryptocurrency transactions and provides a more streamlined experience for merchants.
The Commerce Payment Protocol supports full e-commerce functionality, including authorization, capture, and refunds, operating as seamlessly as conventional payment methods. Merchants will benefit from reduced transaction fees on Base, typically under $0.01, compared to traditional payment networks. Additionally, they will have access to faster settlement times that can reach 200 milliseconds even across international borders.
The timing of this integration is strategic, as stablecoin adoption is accelerating globally. Monthly stablecoin transaction volumes have surged from under $2 billion in 2019 to over $700 billion in 2025.
Coinbase’s newly launched Commerce Payment Protocol addresses fundamental problems that have prevented widespread crypto adoption in retail environments. The protocol introduces an innovative escrow architecture that implements authorization and capture functionality similar to traditional credit card processing. This provides protection for both parties while maintaining crypto’s core advantages of speed, low costs, and global accessibility.
Operators facilitate transactions without requiring customers to pay blockchain fees, maintaining the user experience expectations established by traditional payment systems. The protocol is composable, enabling integration with existing commerce workflows while supporting advanced features like partial captures for multi-delivery orders and programmable payment instructions.
Shopify’s crypto integration coincides with Stripe’s aggressive expansion into digital asset infrastructure, including the recent acquisition of crypto wallet startup Privy. These moves position Stripe to offer comprehensive end-to-end crypto solutions through unified platforms, spanning wallet creation, stablecoin payments, and traditional fiat integration.
Merchants automatically receive stablecoin payment capabilities unless they manually disable the feature. Incentives for merchants include up to 0.5% cash back on USDC transactions and planned customer rewards later this year.
Institutional momentum also supports this growing adoption, with stablecoins settling $27.6 trillion in first-quarter 2025 transactions alone, doubling Visa’s 2023 settlement volume. Over 60% of Fortune 500 companies now actively develop blockchain technology, while nearly one in five executives consider on-chain initiatives key strategic priorities.
As the trend of crypto integration grows, Shopify’s global scope across 34 countries exposes millions of merchants to borderless payment capabilities through crypto. This move by Shopify may just be the beginning of real-world crypto adoption, as other payment processors will likely scramble to match this level of integration.