The FinTech Year in Stories: March

By Louis Thompsett

December 24, 2024

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We look at the articles that made the news in fintech in 2024. Today, it is March…

Stripe Surpasses US$1tn in Total Payments Volume for 2023

Leading fintech Stripe has in its annual letter for 2023 announced that its FY2023 total payments volume surpassed US$1tn for the first time.

This marks a significant milestone in Stripe’s growth to become a giant in the fintech arena.

Founded just 15 years ago, Stripe’s achievement in reaching US$1tn in total payments volume comes in a shorter period than PayPal managed to hit the milestone – which it achieved in 2021, 23 years after it was founded.

Stripe: Reaching a significant growth milestone

With total payments volume up 25% from 2022, Stripe Co-founders Patrick and John Collison attribute the company’s growth to its enterprise business, the number of fast-growing startups adopting its products and the success of its billing and tax services.

The fintech’s success has also seen its valuation rise to US$65bn from US$50bn as a result of its latest completed tender offer.

Speaking to CNBC, Stripe President John Collison says: “We spent a lot of time focusing on that top-line growth. All of last year [people were] predicting all manner of doom and gloom, [but] so far consumer spending has held up really well.”

Indeed, the growth Stripe has achieved backs up John’s assessment of resilience in consumer spending.

And, even though startup fundraising has decreased over the past year, Stripe’s sibling Co-founders have seen that new companies founded in 2022 are generating revenue at a faster rate than those established in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

SWIFT Planning Launch of new CBDC Platform Within two Years

SWIFT, the global bank messaging network is planning to launch a new platform in the next one to two years to connect the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) being developed and launched in the global financial market.

Per Reuters, SWIFT’s new platform will create a network of CBDC platforms, marking one of the most significant steps in the burgeoning CBDC ecosystem.

It is expected that SWIFT’s network will launch as and when the first major CBDC currencies are released to the market.

SWIFT: Facilitating the rise of CBDCs

Today, close to 90% of the world’s central banks are exploring releasing digital versions of their currencies – the need to do so arising from the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Indeed, Bitcoin has recently surpassed its all-time valuation record of US$69,000, and FinTech Magazine reported on its marked resurgence at the end of February 2024.

While many leading central banks don’t want to be left behind by blockchain-based payment technologies such as cryptocurrencies, there are complexities to bringing CBDCs to market.

One issue that remains is how a global standard will be defined, with CBDCs set to roll out in markets across the globe, from the US to Japan.

However, once these issues have been overcome, SWIFT plans to be ready to integrate independent CBDCs into a wider ecosystem.