Popular online credit card payment processor Stripe has long provided support for bitcoin payments with minimal fees. Yesterday Stripe announced it will soon end support for bitcoin payment processing, citing lower demand and lower frequency of bitcoin payments among their customers.

In a post on the Stellar blog, Tom Karlos, the product manager in charge of payment methods for Stripe, cited high fees and slow confirmation times on the bitcoin network among the reasons for Stripe phasing out bitcoin support. He also mentioned several other cryptocurrencies that Stripe may incorporate in the future, with emphasis on one - Stellar.

![andrew-preble-edit.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRY7kdfCb3XhtC4URA3xCTnghkYUBit5sDhQEqckAZruu/andrew-preble-edit.jpg)

# Stripe: "We may add support for Stellar"

The [blog post announcement](https://stripe.com/blog/ending-bitcoin-support) from Stripe makes it clear that ending bitcoin support is not a retreat from cryptocurrency, instead saying "we remain very optimistic about cryptocurrencies overall." The post names a few crypto projects in particular that Stripe finds interesting. 

> "**OmiseGO** is an ambitious and clever proposal; more broadly, **Ethereum** continues to spawn many high-potential projects. *We may add support for **Stellar** (to which we provided seed funding)* if substantive use continues to grow. It’s possible that **Bitcoin Cash**, **Litecoin**, or another Bitcoin variant, will find a way to achieve significant popularity while keeping settlement times and transaction fees very low. **Bitcoin** itself may become viable for payments again in the future." - Tom Karlo, Payment Methods Product Manager for Stripe

Investors are noticing the words "We may add support for Stellar" - strong language, compared to the soft interest in other platforms. The price of Lumens is up more than 20% this morning on the news. Most outlets are missing the importance of the second part - the seed funding!

![XLM_chart.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPVscAtsgwnpwGpB5NLMzEsXMTddvzAC2Uoo844qBaYDf/XLM_chart.png)
<center>*Guess when the news hit? (chart credit: [coinmarketcap.com](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/stellar/#charts))*</center>

## Stellar Returns on Stripe's Seed Funding

Stripe provided Stellar [seed funding of $3 million](https://stripe.com/blog/stellar) back in 2014. In return for the loan, when the network was up and running, Stripe received 2 billion Stellar tokens (later renamed Lumens) [as repayment](https://www.stellar.org/about/mandate/#Funding).

Like many tokens involved in the initial funding, Stripe's tokens are subject to legal restrictions on profits and resale. Stripe voluntarily agreed not to sell its XLM for 5 years. Those tokens are thus off the market until May 2019.

**Stripe's initial $3 million loan netted them XLM tokens now worth more than $1.1 billion.** The company's significant XLM holdings make it seem even more likely that Stripe will add Stellar as a payment or exchange option. They would certainly have the liquidity.

### Bitcoin support on Stripe will end April 23, 2018

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