Shopify and Coinbase Team Up for Stablecoin Revolution in E-commerce
Straight Talk
Shopify to Implement USD Coin (USDC) Payments, Partnering with Coinbase for Stablecoin Integration
In a groundbreaking move, Shopify and Coinbase have partnered to revolutionize e-commerce by embracing stablecoins, starting with USDC payments on Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base.
Scoop on SCENE
From today, select US merchants get early access to USDC payments on Base. Over the course of the year, this feature will be rolled out to all merchants. According to Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, the collaboration with Coinbase was about creating a commerce payment protocol smart contract that powers this transformation.
Lutke took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the news and announced their alignment with crypto principles. During the 2025 Coinbase State of Crypto Summit, Lutke and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed Shopify's crypto enthusiasm, stating, "Buyers coming to Shopify stores will see a USDC on Base payment option, and they’ll be able to use it in the same way as anything else."
Previously, shoppers could pay Shopify merchants via plugins like Solana Pay or Coinbase Commerce. Now, the option to pay with USDC on Base will automatically be present, making crypto payments more accessible for everyday transactions.
To make the new commerce experience possible, the duo collaborated with Stripe to build a permissionless payments protocol and smart contracts for managing complex payment mechanics. According to Lutke, a smart contract models the payment process to take escrow money and release it to the merchant if the transaction goes through.
They call this new payment protocol the Commerce Payments Protocol. This open-source protocol addresses the gap in on-chain commerce, enabling payments with USDC on Base, offering incentives like 1% cashback, and handling multi-stage payment commitments like inventory shortages and buyer refunds.
Armstrong emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating, "For the first time, this is a large-scale ecommerce platform adopting crypto payments, and it just shows that crypto is updating the financial system."
Back in 2023, Shopify added Solana Pay, allowing payment in USDC on Solana. Later that year, the plugin got an upgrade, making payments with hundreds of different Solana assets possible. Meanwhile, Stripe has been increasingly involved in crypto, recently acquiring wallet infrastructure company Privy and adding the Bridge stablecoin payments platform for $1.1 billion.
Circle, the stablecoin issuer of USDC, held its initial public offering last week. Since its IPO, shares have more than quadrupled in price, closing Thursday at $106.54. Both Shopify and Coinbase experienced a 4% drop in their shares on Thursday.
Quick takes:
- The partnership between Coinbase, Shopify, and Stripe could significantly boost the use of stablecoins in e-commerce.
- The Commerce Payments Protocol aims to improve the efficiency and security of stablecoin payments in e-commerce, providing a seamless shopping experience similar to traditional card transactions.
- This move has the potential to increase the adoption of stablecoins among existing Shopify merchants and enable businesses to reach more markets at lower costs.
- The collaboration between Shopify, Coinbase, and Stripe is intended to revolutionize e-commerce by promoting the use of stablecoins like USDC, particularly through Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base.
- Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke revealed that the collaboration was aimed at creating a commerce payment protocol smart contract, which models the payment process for seamless transactions.
- During the 2025 Coinbase State of Crypto Summit, Lutke and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced their alignment with crypto principles and Shopify's enthusiasm for crypto payments.
- The new commerce experience allows buyers to pay with USDC on Base, making crypto payments more accessible for everyday transactions.
- Stripe collaborated with Coinbase and Shopify to build a permissionless payments protocol and smart contracts for managing complex payment mechanics.
- The Commerce Payments Protocol, an open-source protocol developed by the trio, addresses the gap in on-chain commerce, enabling payments with USDC on Base and offering incentives like 1% cashback.
- The partnership between Shopify, Coinbase, and Stripe could pave the way for increased adoption of stablecoins among merchants, potentially lowering costs for businesses and enabling them to reach more markets.
%20Payments%2C%20Partnering%20with%20Coinbase%20for%20Stablecoin%20Integration){kind=link}