Polygon sees Coinme acquisition as entry to payments sector dominated by Visa, Stripe

Polygon Labs expects its regulated payments business to become profitable in 2027 as it moves beyond blockchain infrastructure to enter the payments processing industry dominated by companies such as Visa (V) and Stripe, CEO Marc Boiron told CoinDesk.

The company, the developer of the Polygon blockchain, said Wednesday that it completed the acquisition of Coinme, a U.S.-regulated crypto payments provider, giving theCayman Islands-based company the ability to handle conversions between cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and traditional money using its own resources.

The deal is part of a shift in Polygon’s business that includes January’s introduction of the Open Money Stack, a framework to support stablecoin-based payments and streamline cross-border transfers. Now, in addition to providing the technology for moving money around, it can also collect fees for converting and transferring that money, a source of revenue that previously went to other businesses, Boiron said in a video interview.

“I have not considered us to compete with blockchains for a while now, to be frank,” Boiron said. “It’s very much that we’re a payments-focused company that just uses blockchains to move money, and in particular, Polygon.”