Polygon Buys Coinme and Sequence in $250M Push into US Stablecoin Payments

Polygon Labs has agreed to acquire crypto payments company Coinme and blockchain infrastructure provider Sequence for more than $250 million combined, as it steps up its efforts to build regulated stablecoin payment rails in the United States.

The deals bring together consumer-facing payments, licensing and on-chain infrastructure under Polygon’s umbrella. The transactions come as stablecoins gain momentum as a tool for payments and settlement, following new US legislation aimed at providing clearer regulatory oversight.

Coinme, founded in 2014 and based in Seattle, allows users to convert cash into crypto and operates a network of crypto ATMs. Crucially for Polygon, the company holds money transmitter licences across multiple US states, giving the group an existing regulatory foothold in the domestic payments market.

Sequence, headquartered in New York, provides infrastructure designed to simplify crypto transfers across blockchains, including wallet technology and developer tools.

Polygon, best known for its Ethereum-based scaling network and its role in the NFT boom of 2021 and 2022, said the acquisitions are part of a broader strategy to move beyond blockchain infrastructure and become a regulated payments player.

The company has framed the move as an effort to reduce fragmentation in stablecoin infrastructure by owning more of the stack, from compliance and payments to on-chain execution.

Sources:
Polygon
Sequence
Coinme
Reuters
Fortune
BetaKit

J.V.