Stripe acquires the Valora wallet team to expand its stablecoin services

According to The Block, payment giant Stripe has acquired the team of crypto startup Valora through "acquihiring," expanding its cryptocurrency business.

On Wednesday, Valora founder Jackie Bona announced that the team will join Stripe to pursue the mission of broadening access to the global financial system. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, including the number of Valora employees joining Stripe. According to Bona, Stripe's acquisition does not seem to include the intellectual property behind Valora's technology. She wrote that the app will "return to its roots at cLabs to continue operations, with cLabs leading its future development."

Valora was launched in 2021 and developed a mobile-first, user-custodied cryptocurrency wallet application, particularly targeting stablecoins on the CELO blockchain. Valora aims to make sending cryptocurrency as simple as sending a text message and has previously collaborated with peer-to-peer applications like M-Pesa to expand into the African market, as well as partnered with stablecoin issuer Tether to promote the global adoption of stablecoins.