Polygon Bets $250M+ on Regulated Stablecoin Payments With Coinme, Sequence Acquisitions

Key Takeaways:

• Polygon is acquiring Coinme and Sequence in deals totaling over $250 million to build a regulated, end-to-end onchain payments stack in the U.S.
• The move gives Polygon licensed fiat on/off-ramps across 48 states, 50,000+ retail access points, and seamless 1-click cross-chain payments.
• The strategy signals a clear pivot from general-purpose blockchain scaling toward stablecoin payments and real-world money movement.

Polygon has unveiled one of its most aggressive strategic shifts to date, announcing plans to become a U.S.-regulated payments platform by acquiring two critical infrastructure players. The deals place stablecoin payments, compliance, and user experience at the center of Polygon’s next growth phase.

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Polygon’s $250M Pivot Toward Onchain Payments

Polygon Labs confirmed it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Coinme and Sequence, with total consideration exceeding $250 million. The acquisitions anchor Polygon’s newly announced Open Money Stack, a vertically integrated payments framework designed to move fiat and stablecoins seamlessly onchain.

Rather than positioning itself solely as an Ethereum scaling solution, Polygon is now targeting the infrastructure layer of digital payments. The company seeks to provide a one stack to banks, fintechs, and enterprises with regulated money movement, wallet infrastructure, and cross-chain settlement.

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Coinme Brings U.S. Regulation, Licensing, and Nationwide Fiat Access

Coinme is a project that most crypto-native projects fail to provide: regulatory coverage and physical distribution in the U.S. Founded in 2014, Coinme operates under money-transmitter licenses in 48 states and runs a network of more than 50,000 fiat-to-crypto locations nationwide.

Through the acquisition, Polygon gains:

• Regulated fiat on/off-ramps across most of the U.S.
• A licensed wallet infrastructure suitable for enterprise and consumer use.
• APIs that let Web2 and Web3 companies embed crypto trading, custody, and payments.

Coinme already serves over one million app users and enterprise clients including Coinstar and MoneyGram. Its investor base includes Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, and Circle Ventures, a sign of its long-standing credibility in U.S. crypto payments.

For Polygon, acquiring Coinme avoids years of regulatory build-out and immediately positions the network as a compliant payments operator rather than just a blockchain provider.

Sequence and the Push for Frictionless Crypto UX

Abstracting the Hard Parts of Blockchain

While Coinme solves regulation and fiat access, Sequence tackles user experience. Sequence develops embedded smart wallets and infrastructure that hide blockchain complexity from end users.

Its technology includes:

• Enterprise-grade embedded wallets.
• Cross-chain orchestration that abstracts bridging, swaps, and gas fees.
• A 1-click transaction flow that works across multiple blockchains.

Sequence’s Trails engine allows users to pay with any supported token on any chain, while the system handles routing and execution in the background. This abstraction is critical for payments, where users expect instant, predictable outcomes.

Sequence is backed by firms such as Brevan Howard Digital, Initialized, Coinbase, Polychain, Consensys, and gaming giants including Take-Two Interactive and Ubisoft. Its tools are already used across ecosystems like Polygon, Arbitrum, Immutable, and Magic Eden.

Inside the Polygon Open Money Stack

The Open Money Stack combines three core layers into a single platform:

1. Blockchain rails – Polygon’s settlement infrastructure for fast, low-cost transactions.
2. Regulated money movement – Coinme’s licensed fiat rails and retail network.
3. Wallets and cross-chain payments – Sequence’s embedded wallets and intent-based execution.

Polygon says the stack will support instant money movement, easy onboarding, and 1-click payments across chains, all while remaining compliant with U.S. regulations. Importantly, the system is designed to be chain-agnostic, acknowledging that payments will likely settle across multiple blockchains rather than a single network.

Stablecoins as the Real Endgame

Polygon’s leadership has been explicit: payments are the “killer use case” for crypto. Stablecoins, pegged to fiat currencies, are increasingly used for B2B settlement, remittances, and treasury flows because they move faster and cheaper than traditional rails.

By internalizing licensing, wallets, and payment orchestration, Polygon is betting that enterprises want a unified provider rather than a patchwork of vendors. This mirrors how neobanks bundle custody, compliance, and payments, except Polygon’s rails are onchain.

Competition is intensifying. Traditional payment giants like Visa and Mastercard are exploring stablecoin settlement, while other blockchain networks are racing to capture the same market. Polygon’s near-term strategy emphasizes partnerships rather than direct confrontation, aiming to integrate with existing systems while stablecoin adoption scales.