Stripe COO Explains Move Away From Bitcoin Payments

Popular payments provider Stripe made waves in 2015 after announcing the acceptance of Bitcoin for its merchant network.

In April 2018, the company ceased Bitcoin operations providing no clear reasons at the time.

On July 18, 2018, Stripe COO Claire Jackson disclosed why the company's short-lived relationship with the pioneer cryptocurrency soured.

Speaking at Fortune's Brainstorm conference, Johnson stated blockchain-based payment mechanisms, and Bitcoin, in particular, is overhyped, slow, and impractical.

She revealed the company faced trouble in December 2017 after Bitcoin transaction times infamously rose to over 90 minutes and a few days in some instances.

Stripe merchants were equally put-off by the digital currency, Johnson continued, noting the backlog was so severe at times that a second transaction was filed by merchants when price fluctuated wildly between purchase and payment time.

Besides singling out the transaction times of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Johnson's assessment on the subject also called out blockchain technology - referring to the growing sector as "Overhyped."

While the COO's thoughts on the matter may not reflect Stripe's decision to decouple from Bitcoin, industry players remain optimistic about the digital currency and underlying technology.

IBM's Vice President of Blockchain, Bridget Van Kralingen, stated in January 2018 the technology is being successfully utilized across three major domains - cross-border payments, supply chains, and identity verification.

As reported by CryptoSlate, the payments company touts the plan to serve customer interest in cryptocurrencies and provide a gateway for those concerned about the security of existing digital token payment frameworks, in addition to speeding up the infamously slow transaction times.