Feb 24, 2026 · 28m · cheeky-pint
Stripe’s 2025 annual letter
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In Stripe’s 2025 annual letter, co-founder John Collison reviews the platform’s record $1.9 trillion processing volume while detailing major economic and technological shifts, including the rise of global-by-default startups, programmatic capital access, stablecoin rails, and autonomous agentic commerce.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. John holds 100% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
John as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 0.0 Guest disagreement 0.0 John pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is John, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 0:00 Solo Reading Disclaimer
This is a solo letter reading with no guest combativeness; the only non-host utterance is a single-word interjection at the start.
Hardest push from John ▶ 15:10 Critique of Costly Brand Marketing CampaignsIn the letter, Collison rhetorically challenges the conventional prioritization of flashy marketing campaigns over core payment optimization.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:25 Data on Post-Basel III Capital ContractionCollison outlines macroeconomic data on how post-2008 bank capital rules restricted small business credit access across OECD countries.
John holds their own ▶ 20:50 Laying Out Agentic Commerce Infrastructure ProtocolsCollison demonstrates deep domain expertise detailing shared payment tokens and protocol standards co-developed with OpenAI.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | John as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | John pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe 2025 Annual Performance and Business Growth Overview | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | This is a solo monologue segment where John Collison reads Stripe's 2025 annual letter covering financial metrics, GDP impact, and the market sorting machine. Per the monologue scoring guidelines, all interactive metrics are scored at zero. | |
| The Transition to Global by Default Internet Businesses | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Collison reads the section detailing the transition of modern internet companies to operating globally by default. With no guest dialogue or interview exchange, scores remain at zero. | |
| Stablecoins and the Emergence of Purpose-Built Blockchains | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | This section covers stablecoin volume expansion and the announcement of Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain. As a monologue reading, there is no interactive dynamic. | |
| Expanding Capital Access and Measuring Small Business Growth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Collison reads about post-2008 capital constraints for small businesses and the measured impact of Stripe Capital. No host-guest pushback or combativeness is present. | |
| Escaping Low Revenue Mode Through Advanced Payment Optimization | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Collison contrasts splashy advertising failures with payment authorization rate optimizations. All scores are zero in accordance with monologue rules. | |
| The Five Levels of Agentic Commerce and Protocol Standards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Collison presents the five-level framework for agentic commerce and announces the Agentic Commerce Protocol. The monologue format entails zero interaction scores. | |
| Culture of Progress, Overcoming Regulatory Friction, and Conclusion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | The concluding section discusses Joel Mokyr's economic history, overcoming regulatory friction, and Stripe's event horizon analogy. Scores remain at zero due to the solo reading format. |
Statements from this episode (31)
Collison: Stripe reached $1.9T in volume in 2025, up 34%
“Last year, businesses running on Stripe generated 1.9 trillion in total volume, up 34% from 24, an equivalent to roughly 1.6% of global GDP.”
Collison: Stripe powers over 5M businesses, 90% of Dow Jones
“Our programmable financial services now power more than five million businesses directly or via platforms, including all the top AI companies, many of the largest blue chip companies, 90% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, most of the biggest tech companies,…”
Collison: 25% of Delaware corporations are formed via Stripe Atlas
“25% of all Delaware corporations are now created with Stripe Atlas.”
Collison: Stripe Link is used by over 200M people
“Link, the easiest way to pay online, is now used by more than two hundred million people.”
Collison: Stripe remained robustly profitable throughout 2025
“Stripe remained robustly profitable in 25, allowing us to continue investing heavily in product development, with over 350 product updates over the last year, as well as acquisitions.”
Collison: Stripe acquired Privy and Metronome
“Since our last update, we acquired Privy, which powers more than a hundred and ten million programmable wallets, and Metronome, which powers the complex usage-based billing models used by companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Confluent, and NVIDIA.”
Collison: Stripe's revenue suite on track to hit $1B ARR
“Metronome joins our revenue suite, comprising Stripe billing, invoicing, tax, and more, Which is on track to hit an annual run rate of a billion dollars this year.”
Collison: Most profitable third of US public companies holds two-thirds of market cap
“Today, the most profitable third of publicly listed companies in the United States accounts for two-thirds of the total market capitalization, the highest share since data began in 1963.”
Collison: Tech and data center capex drove nearly half of 2025 US GDP growth
“Economy-wide, demand for software, computers, and data center investment drove nearly half of all U.S. GDP growth in 2025, and will likely soon be a majority of all U.S. Growth.”
Collison: Startups reaching $10M ARR in 3 months doubled in Stripe's 2025 cohort
“The number of companies reaching ten million in ARR within three months of launch was double that of the 24 cohort.”
Collison: December 2025 iOS app releases jumped 60% year-over-year
“After years of relative calm, the number of iOS apps released in December 25 jumped by 60% year over year.”
Collison: GitHub pushes jumped 41% between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025
“Pushes to GitHub, which grew roughly 10 to 12% in prior years, jumped 41%. Between Q. Three, 24 and Q. Three, 25.”
Collison: 20% of 2025 Stripe Atlas startups charged customers within 30 days
“In 2025, 20% of Atlas startups charged their first customer within 30 days, up from eight percent for that same number in 2020.”
Collison: 30% of Stripe cross-border revenue is outside top 10 economies
“Of businesses on stride that earn most of their revenue internationally, 30% of that revenue comes from countries that are neither their home market nor one of the top 10 global economies.”
Collison: Gamma's Indian revenue jumped 22% after adding UPI payments
“Gamma is a California-based AI platform used by seventy million people to create presentations. When they joined the first cohort of Stripe users to accept UPI payments in India, their Indian revenue jumped 22% in that very same month.”
Collison: Stablecoins make global-by-default financial services possible
“And this progress is in large part due to stablecoins, where borderlessness allows fintechs to set up infrastructure that works everywhere. Global by default financial services are for the first time a real possibility.”
Collison: 2025 stablecoin payment volume doubled to $400B, 60% B2B
“In 25, the price of Bitcoin dropped precipitously and is now 50% down from October, but stablecoin payments volume doubled to around 400,000,000,060 percent of which is estimated to represent B to B payments.”
Collison: Stripe-acquired Bridge saw stablecoin volume more than quadruple
“Bridge, the stablecoin orchestration platform we acquired, saw volume more than quadruple.”
Collison: Agents will likely drive most internet transactions soon
“In our view, agents will most likely soon be responsible for most internet transactions, and will likely need blockchains that support more than a million, or maybe even more than a billion, transactions a second.”
Collison: Klarna is the first bank to launch a stablecoin on Tempo
“Klarna, whose CEO was once a self-proclaimed crypto skeptic, became the first bank to launch a stablecoin, Klarna USD, on the Tempo testnet, using Bridge's open issuance to facilitate faster and cheaper cross-border settlement.”
Collison: US small business loan approvals fell to 41% in 2025
“Only 41% of small business loan applications were approved in the US last year, down from 50% in 2015.”
Collison: Stripe Capital disbursed 45% more funds to 81,000+ businesses in 2025
“Last year, Stripe Capital distributed 45% more funds compared to twenty-twenty-four to more than 81,000 businesses.”
Collison: Stripe Capital recipients grew 27 percentage points faster over one year
“Businesses that received and accepted capital offers grew, on average, 27 percentage points faster over the following year than the otherwise equivalent businesses who didn't.”
Collison: Microsoft routes more payment volume to Stripe after auth rate gains
“Between June and October, Stripe delivered a meaningful increase in authorization rates for Microsoft using a combination of adaptive acceptance, card account updater, network tokens, and more. As a result, Microsoft is now routing a larger share of its paymen…”
Collison: Local payment rails like BLIK and Pix boost conversions up to 46%
“Presenting Blick to your customers in Poland drives an average 46% increase in checkout conversion. Offering Pix does the same in Brazil with a 31% average conversion uplift.”
Collison: Future of agentic commerce depends on universal interoperability
“But as with the early internet, the future success of agentic commerce is contingent on universal interoperability. Our ascent through those five levels we discussed depends on our ability to all work together.”
Anthropologie, Etsy, and Coach adopt Stripe's new Agentic Commerce Suite
“Brands already onboarding to ACS include Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Etsy, Coach, Kate Spade, and a bunch more.”
Stripe launches Machine Payments for agent API microtransactions via stablecoins
“We launched Machine Payments, a way for developers to charge agents directly for API calls, MCP usage, and HTTP requests using stablecoin microtransactions.”
Collison: Stripe partnered with OpenAI for ChatGPT shopping experience
“And we partnered with OpenAI to power the first shopping experience inside ChatGPT.”