Stripe opened USDC payments on the 12th, targeting Visa and Mastercard with a 1.5% flat fee.

On the 12th, payment platform Stripe officially launched USDC payments, directly challenging Visa and Mastercard with a flat 1.5% fee, making blockchain technology completely invisible to merchants.

(Background: Will Stripe’s payment-dedicated Tempo chain threaten the position of ETH and SOL?) (Supplementary info: Stripe’s settlement blockchain, Tempo, completed a $500 million Series A funding round, reaching a $5 billion valuation.)

After Trump’s return to the White House, US fintech regulation has noticeably relaxed, and Silicon Valley is shifting its focus from SEC penalties back to efficiency competition. Payment giant Stripe is seizing the opportunity, announcing on December 12 that it is opening stablecoin payment functionality to merchants worldwide, supporting USDC and initially launching on Ethereum, Polygon, and Coinbase’s Base network. The fee is set at “1.5% flat rate, no fixed fees,” a stark contrast to current credit card averages of 2.9% + $0.30, directly initiating a cost war against Visa and Mastercard.

Half the fees, instant settlement

In the traditional credit card system, cross-border transactions often incur fees above 3%, and funds typically settle no sooner than T+3. Stripe, however, uses packaged liquidity pools to instantly convert and settle USDC paid by consumers into fiat on-chain, ultimately crediting it directly to the merchant’s Stripe USD balance. Merchants don’t need to manage private keys or bear exchange rate and volatility risks—they simply enjoy halved fees and near-instant fund settlement. In other words, blockchain is entirely “invisible” at the user and merchant interface level.

Choosing sides: Base is a “US closed loop”

Stripe allocated the first wave of traffic to Ethereum, Polygon, and Base—a clear signal. Base, launched by Coinbase, boasts a strong compliance moat in the US, and with a friendlier Trump administration, has naturally become the preferred channel for USD stablecoin circulation.

L2 transaction gas fees have dropped to below a cent, and combined with the 1.5% low fee, this effectively removes the last barrier for cross-border e-commerce and gig platforms.

In its developer blog, Stripe stated that it’s building an “open issuance platform.” In the future, brands will be able to issue their own stablecoins on the same infrastructure for supply chain settlement, loyalty points, or closed-loop payments within platforms.

Product Manager Jeff explained internally: “We’re not adding a crypto option; we’re upgrading the global financial operating system of the internet.”

This means Stripe isn’t just targeting the acquiring market, but is also preparing to compete head-to-head with traditional issuing banks.

Traditional banks may not have woken up yet

Over the past year, the Trump administration has adopted a “high-standard but predictable” regulatory approach to crypto, giving large tech companies room to experiment. Stripe’s acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure and rapid product rollout is a direct result of this window of opportunity. When the feature officially launches on the 12th, consumers may only notice faster and cheaper checkout, without realizing that USDC and Base are running in the background. The moment crypto technology becomes completely invisible in the user experience is when it truly wins mainstream adoption.

There is no unified global credit card fee rate, but Visa/Mastercard interchange fees are publicly listed by country and typically range from about 1.15% to 3.0%. After adding local acquiring bank and payment processor fees, merchants usually see a final card fee of around 2% to 4%. The EU caps credit card interchange at 0.3% and debit cards at 0.2%, but total fees can still reach 1.5%–2.5%. In Asia, there’s more variation by country; for example, Singapore and Hong Kong generally see fees between 2% and 3%.

The 1.5% vs 2.9% fee battle has begun. Once merchants and platforms experience the benefits of instant settlement, looking back at traditional banks’ T+3 and high channel fees may be too late.

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This article “Stripe to launch USDC payments on December 12, 1.5% flat fee directly challenges Visa and Mastercard” was first published on BlockTempo, the most influential blockchain news media.