Powering the future of ecommerce: Introducing Coinbase Payments

Commerce is changing

Stablecoins are reshaping global commerce, and Coinbase is leading the charge with a major move into payments. Stablecoins processed $30 trillion in settlements last year – 3x growth year-over-year. They’re a faster, cheaper, more global way to move money – and the world is catching on. 

More than half of the Fortune 500 is building onchain, and a third of small businesses already use crypto. And yet, despite growing demand, stablecoin payments remain out of reach for most platforms – held back by fragmented tooling, technical overhead, and a lack of production-ready infrastructure. Coinbase Payments changes that. 

Coinbase Payments: Stablecoin payments without the complexity

Coinbase Payments is the first full-stack stablecoin payment solution built for commerce platforms at scale. It abstracts away the blockchain so you can offer crypto-native payments without needing crypto-native teams. We built it to power seamless USDC payments with faster settlement, lower fees, and global reach. 

This high-performance infrastructure is now live with Shopify, where we’re bringing USDC payments to millions of merchants with no additional setup required. Now, that same infrastructure is available to any platform that serves merchants.

The Stack

Coinbase Payments is a modular stack to add stablecoin payments to your existing systems without friction.

1. Stablecoin Checkout: The consumer interaction layer

A fast, wallet-native checkout for USDC payments across hundreds of wallets like Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, and Phantom. Optimized for conversion, it delivers a seamless, gasless user experience. 

2. Ecommerce Engine: The merchant interaction layer

The API layer for merchant platforms and PSPs. Handles authorization, capture, refunds, ledgering, subscriptions, and key management – so you can offer stablecoin support without blockchain expertise. 

3. Commerce Payments Protocol: The onchain execution layer

Open-source smart contracts that power secure, scalable onchain transactions – replicating traditional mechanics like escrow, delayed capture, and refunds. Runs on Base for sub-second, low-cost execution. Learn more here.

How Coinbase Payments works for Shopify

Shopify is integrating Coinbase Payments to unlock 24/7 USDC payments across its ecosystem. Here’s how the stack performs under the hood: 

• Stablecoin Checkout delivers a fast, wallet-based payment UX to end customers. 

• Ecommerce Engine lets Shopify manage merchant operations like auth and capture via APIs.

• Commerce Payments Protocol executes transactions securely onchain, using the Coinbase Developer Platform’s Wallet API to manage smart-contract-based escrow and settlement. 

This enables Shopify merchants to accept USDC payments from a global customer base with no additional setup and at a lower cost. 

Partner with us

Coinbase Payments is built for platforms that serve merchants – PSPs, marketplaces, ecommerce providers. 

• Add USDC support without rebuilding your stack

• Launch globally with 24/7, borderless payments

• Lower costs across the board

• Enable offramps to fiat 

• Maintain trust with secure, audited onchain execution

• Incentivize adoption with programmable rewards (coming soon)

You get the benefits of stablecoin infrastructure. Your merchants get the simplicity they expect. If you serve merchants and want to offer a faster, cheaper, programmable payment experience, we’d love to work with you. Get in touch.