Coinbase and Shopify Bring USDC Payments on Base to Millions of Merchants Worldwide
TL;DR: Coinbase is partnering with Shopify to bring the future of commerce onchain. Beginning in June, consumers can pay with USDC on Base through Shopify Payments, bringing onchain payments to millions of storefronts. Together, we're building a new era for payments that are fast, low-cost, global, and onchain.
Today, we're excited to announce a groundbreaking partnership with Shopify, the commerce platform that powers millions of merchants globally, including BarkBox, SKIMS, and Vuori. We are working together to bring commerce onchain by making it easy for all merchants on Shopify Payments to accept USDC payments on Base.
We're rolling this out with early access merchants today, and will expand to all stores around the globe running Shopify Payments later this year.
The future of payments is here. Shopify chose Base to bring crypto payments mainstream because it offers fast, cheap, and secure onchain transactions everywhere around the world. This partnership represents a significant step toward Base’s mission to bring a billion people onchain.
Bringing Commerce Onchain with Shopify
Shopify and Coinbase are working together to create a future where onchain payments between businesses and customers are simple and seamless. Shopify is bringing a deep understanding of merchant and customer needs, which is complemented by Coinbase's crypto expertise, to build the next wave of payments infrastructure for commerce. Our partnership leverages crypto's foundational elements - like smart contracts and programmable money - to create flexible, secure payment flows.
It’s never been easier to pay with crypto. Beginning today, consumers can easily pay with USDC on Base at many of their favorite stores using their preferred crypto wallet. Crypto owners can take advantage of fast, secure checkout to make purchases online or in person. In the US, Shopify plans to provide 1% cash back to customers when they pay with USDC, at no cost to the merchant (coming later this year).
For merchants, this new way to pay will be automatically available with no additional setup required. This removes the complexity typically associated with accepting crypto payments, and merchants will be able to seamlessly leverage onchain payment infrastructure, with no action needed. Best of all, no matter where their buyers come from, there are no foreign exchange fees on cross-border transactions. By default, merchants will get cashed out in their local currency with zero fees, or alternatively, can choose to receive USDC on Base to their crypto wallets.
USDC payments on Base are powered by a new smart contract and commerce payments protocol developed jointly by Shopify and Coinbase. This protocol:
helps integrate stablecoin payments into merchants' order and fulfillment flow, ensuring accurate order calculation and capture.
supports essential commerce features like delayed capture, tax finalization, and refunds.
is deployed onchain and is permissionless for anyone to use, which means that any developer can integrate this into a payment system to accept USDC.
is open source and open to contributions.
Try it Out Today
Go to a store (such as coinbaseshop.com). At checkout, select “Crypto: USDC”
A secure window will pop up. Select a crypto wallet that holds USDC on Base and connect.
Once a wallet is selected, you’ll be taken to a confirmation screen. Confirm the transaction, just like you would with any other crypto transaction.
After confirming, your purchase is complete, and you’ll be taken back to the Shopify Payments confirmation screen.
