Bridge founder Zach Abrams sees an opportunity for ‘tokenized local currencies’ across Asia

Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm co-founded by Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, has emerged as a critical layer for cross-border payments, processing over $5 billion in annualized volume by 2024. Originally focused on the U.S. market, the company discovered significant demand in emerging economies like Colombia, Venezuela, and the Philippines, where traditional financial rails are inefficient. Following its $1.1 billion acquisition by Stripe in 2024, Bridge is now positioning itself to simplify the complex landscape of tokenized assets. Abrams emphasizes that the current dominance of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins is a sign of market immaturity rather than a permanent state. The firm is actively expanding support for non-dollar currencies, including the Mexican peso, British pound, and Brazilian real, to facilitate local business needs. By providing a unified infrastructure layer, Bridge aims to enable businesses in hubs like Singapore to hold tokenized local currencies and access yield-generating investments. This shift toward multi-currency tokenization is essential for integrating stablecoins into global trade and addressing the regulatory requirements of diverse international markets.