# Key stablecoin concepts

Stablecoins are digital assets designed to maintain a stable value relative to a currency, such as the US dollar. You can use them to store funds, move money globally, enable card spending, accept payments, and build financial products.

Stripe works extensively with stablecoins and digital assets. Stripe provides both end-to-end stablecoin workflows as part of our core products (like payments, Treasury, Link), and modular tooling to compose your own stablecoin stack as you see fit. Combine them into an end-to-end system, use individual capabilities with your existing infrastructure, or adopt more of the stack as your needs change.

## Common use cases

A stablecoin workflow typically involves one or more of the following actions:

1. **Store** stablecoins in a balance, account, or wallet and convert between stablecoins and fiat currencies.
2. **Spend** a stablecoin balance through a card or an onchain transaction.
3. **Move** stablecoins to another account or wallet.
4. **Convert** funds between stablecoins, fiat currencies, assets, or networks.
5. **Accept** stablecoins as a payment method
6. **Earn** on eligible stablecoin balances.
7. **Issue** your own custom stablecoin.

## Core concepts

| Term | Definition |
| --- | --- |
| Stablecoin | A digital asset designed to track the value of another asset, most commonly a fiat currency such as the US dollar. Stablecoins can move over blockchain networks and can be held in compatible accounts or wallets. |
| Asset | A unit of value that can be held or transferred. In a stablecoin integration, the asset determines what users hold, such as a particular US dollar-denominated stablecoin.

Assets that represent the same currency aren’t necessarily interchangeable. They can have different issuers, reserve structures, availability, and supported networks. |
| Network | Often called a blockchain or chain, a network records and settles stablecoin transactions. The network affects where an asset can be received, how it can be transferred, and which wallets and products can interact with it.

A stablecoin can work across multiple networks. Verify that both the asset and network are supported before sending funds. |
| Wallet | A storage system that lets a person, business, or agent hold and interact with digital assets. Depending on its design, a wallet can be controlled by the user, a platform, an agent, multiple parties, or a wallet provider.

In Stripe documentation, *wallet* can refer to several different concepts:

- An *external crypto wallet* is an onchain destination outside Stripe, typically a consumer wallet like Phantom or MetaMask.
- An *embedded wallet* is integrated into an application so users can interact with digital assets without leaving the product. |
| Custody | Describes who safeguards digital assets and controls the credentials needed to move them. Depending on your integration, custody can be handled by Stripe, your business, your user, or another provider.

- A *custodial wallet* is controlled by a licensed provider that safeguards assets on behalf of a user or business.
- A *non-custodial wallet* is controlled by an end user or business. Users control the credentials needed to access and move assets, and the wallet provider can’t move those assets without the owner’s authorization.

An embedded wallet can be custodial or non-custodial. Embedded describes how the wallet is integrated, while custodial and non-custodial describe who controls it. |
| Onramp | A service that lets a customer convert fiat currency into a crypto or stablecoin asset. |
| Offramp | A service that converts crypto into fiat currency or delivers its value through a traditional financial account. |
| Issuance | The process through which you can create and manage a stablecoin. An issuer defines how the stablecoin is minted and redeemed, how its reserves are managed, and where it can circulate.

Not to be confused with *card issuance,* often called **Issuing.** |

## Stripe products and infrastructure

- [Stripe products](https://docs.stripe.com/products.md) provide ready-made workflows for accepting payments, managing balances, making payouts, and enabling card spending.
- [Bridge](https://apidocs.bridge.xyz/) provides infrastructure for moving and converting funds across fiat currencies, stablecoins, and supported networks. It also supports custom stablecoin issuance.
- [Privy](https://docs.privy.io/) provides wallet infrastructure for creating and managing wallets within your product.
- [Link](https://docs.stripe.com/payments/link.md) gives eligible recipients a way to receive, manage, and use funds without first supplying an external crypto wallet.

Stripe also has advanced integrations with the following ecosystem partners:

- [Tempo](https://tempo.xyz/) is blockchain infrastructure designed for payments.
- [Open USD (OUSD)](https://docs.stripe.com/stablecoins/ecosystem/ousd.md) is a stablecoin designed as open infrastructure.

These capabilities work together, but you can adopt them individually. Start with your business goal, then choose the level of control and abstraction appropriate for your integration.