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Privy × Stripe: unlocking a new economic operating system based on crypto rails

2 min readJun 11, 2025

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Today Stripe is announcing the acquisition of our portfolio company Privy. We originally partnered with Henri Stern and Asta Li in the Seed Round (co-lead with Sequoia) in 2021, and have invested in every round since then (joining Paradigm and Ribbit Capital as they led later rounds). Henri’s reputation as a crisp intellectual and rigorous executor from his days at Protocol Labs made us pay attention when we heard he was going to build a new company, and meeting his co-founder Asta Li gave us the conviction that this was going to be an n of 1 team for the mission.

Privy started a little over three years ago and, in that short period, has built the preeminent infrastructure for the adoption of crypto wallets, supporting 75 million accounts, over 1,000 developer teams and billions of transactions. Maybe most importantly, Privy is a key enabling fabric for a plethora of crypto rails-based applications. We are ecstatic for the team, and have been in awe of their execution quality, drive and tenacity that powered them through the inevitable dark hours that arise on any entrepreneurial journey.

While discussing the merits of partnering with Stripe together, Henri said something to us that stuck: “it’s not a finishing line–it’s a starting line” — because Privy has also built a core pillar for the future adoption of stablecoins and the enablement of new financial applications. Teaming up with Stripe and working with the Bridge team, will allow Privy to tap into one of the internet’s largest ecosystems to further execute on their vision.

Though from the outside it may have looked like an easy ride for Henri and Asta, the truth is much more complicated. They started the company with a seemingly very different mission: to provide an infrastructure for privacy as a service so small to medium-sized companies could operate safely on sensitive user data without having to give up important usability features which rely on PII such as emails & notifications. As user privacy & security is a core part of the founding DNA of Privy, their evolution to providing leading wallet infrastructure was not only in line with their ideals but with the expertise they had already built in technologies such as TEEs (Trusted Execution Environments) and safe UX. It was this focus on what is truly good for users that kept Henri and Asta focused through the crypto euphoria of 2021 to the depths of despair in 2022 and to where we are today.

We can’t wait to see what team Privy continues to build — and why don’t you consider joining them.

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BlueYard Capital
BlueYard Capital

Written by BlueYard Capital

BlueYard backs founders building the interconnected elements that can become the fabric of our future.

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