Stripe hits the golden $1 trillion payment volume benchmark

It seems like $1 trillion is the new hot number. Recently Zelle said that it is on track to reach the $1 trillion payment volume mark this year, and now Stripe is  stating that it too has crossed the $1 trillion in payment volume benchmark.

Stripe’s annual letter also states that its payment volume rose by 25% in 2023.

Stripe’s  performance numbers seem like a testament to a good year at Stripe.

Two thing stuck out though:

a) Fragmentation in payments: Despite the overall growth and resilience the payments sector has shown, the sheer size of the pie and the many players trying to cut out a piece for themselves leads to fragmentation. “Over the last year alone, we’ve added support for more than 50 new payment methods, taking the total supported to over 100,” the letter read.

Although the annual letter doesn’t really dive into what this fragmentation means for Stripe: is it an operational or a business opportunity? The letter does seem to lean towards suggesting that adding support for payment methods enables use by more customers – a generally positive, if broad, comment that oddly contrasts with the word “fragmentation”.