Shopify Adds Stablecoins | Here’s the Fintech Playbook
A breakdown of Coinbase Payments, how it works, and why it matters for your product roadmap.
Hi one-fs crew 👋
The new-age checkout is here. And it’s FAST.
In the last edition, we looked at Uber’s stablecoin play. This week, Shopify - the world’s largest ecommerce platform after Amazon - announced a major upgrade: USDC payments are now available for its 1.7 million merchants, powered by Coinbase.
Let’s break it down.
Stablecoins meet Shopify
Coinbase just unveiled a new product: Coinbase Payments. It’s the most complete stablecoin payment stack we’ve seen so far. And Shopify is its first launch partner.
To recap:
Coinbase Payments enables fast, feeless USDC payments at checkout.
It supports over 480 wallets, including Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, Phantom, and Trust Wallet.
It’s mobile-native and works like Apple Pay - just tap, confirm, done.
And crucially, it runs on Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 chain, for sub-second, low-fee processing.
What used to be a clunky process on shady websites now feels familiar and seamless. You’ll see a new button at checkout: “Crypto: USDC”. Tap it, select your wallet, approve - and that’s it.
No browser extensions. No wallet copy-pasting. No jargon.
Optimised for conversion
What’s particularly impressive about Coinbase’s new checkout is the speed. Transactions settle in under a second on Base, and the entire flow feels closer to Apple Pay than anything we’ve seen in crypto so far.
That matters.
According to Baymard, every extra second at checkout cuts conversion by up to 7%. Most card flows introduce unnecessary friction - think 3DS redirects, OTP delays, or failed issuer auth. By contrast, Coinbase Payments confirms the transaction directly in the user’s wallet, with no detours.
The 3 layers of Coinbase Payments
Here’s how it works under the hood:
1. Stablecoin Checkout
A fast, gasless (means no fees) checkout flow optimised for mobile. You pick your wallet and confirm in a few taps.
2. Ecommerce Engine
An API layer that handles authorisation, capture, refunds, ledgering, subscriptions - without needing to know how blockchains work.
3. Commerce Payments Protocol
Open-source smart contracts running on Base. Think programmable refunds, delayed captures, even escrow logic - all baked into the rails.
It’s the Stripe-for-stablecoins moment we’ve been waiting for.
Coinbase Payments is the first full-stack stablecoin payment solution built for commerce platforms at scale. It abstracts away the blockchain so you can offer crypto-native payments without needing crypto-native teams. We built it to power seamless USDC payments with faster settlement, lower fees, and global reach.
Pros & Cons of USDC Payments on Shopify
Pros:
Faster than card rails (sub-second settlement on Base)
Lower fees (no interchange or 3DS processing costs). Currently Shopify absorbs all the fees, but otherwise, you’re talking 0.01%–0.1% for a $100 payment (vs $3-4 for card payments).
Global reach (wallets in 170+ countries)
Shopify incentive: 1% cashback in USDC for early adopters
No chargebacks (which plague card-based merchants)
Cons:
Volatility perception: customers still associate crypto with risk
UX isn’t perfect on desktop (QR codes for wallet approval)
Wallet familiarity: mainstream users still need education
No chargebacks - as much as it is a pro for merchants, it is a con for customers. Although I personally never managed to rightfully win a chargeback, many think this is a deal-breaker.
Why this matters: The $180B question
Global ecommerce is expected to hit $6.5 trillion this year. Most of that flows through card networks, which charge ~3% in processing fees.
That’s $180 billion siphoned off by intermediaries.
Stablecoins flip this model. By settling on-chain with no intermediaries, merchants can recover significant margins - and pass some of those savings back to customers.
That’s what Shopify and Coinbase are betting on.
It’s also what Stripe saw when they acquired Bridge earlier this year for $1.1B to future-proof their payment stack around stablecoins .
Until next time - Dom 👋
Thanks for reading. Hit reply if you’ve got thoughts – or DM me here if you’re on the web.
About Dom Monhardt, founder of one-fs.com
I am a French technologist and product leader living in Dubai, with 15+ years of experience in building cutting-edge and innovative digital experiences.
I am interested in the intersection of business, design, and technology and am deeply passionate about the fintech and digital banking world.