Polygon Labs Makes $250M Power Play: Acquiring Coinme and Sequence to Dominate Stablecoin Payments

Polygon Labs just dropped a quarter-billion-dollar bet on the future of money. The blockchain infrastructure giant is snapping up crypto cash-out network Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence—a double acquisition aimed squarely at owning the stablecoin payments pipeline.

The $250M Stablecoin Gambit

Forget speculative tokens—this move is about utility. By integrating Coinme's massive physical network of crypto ATMs and kiosks with Sequence's developer-friendly wallet stack, Polygon is building an on-ramp and off-ramp empire. The goal? Make spending USDC and other dollar-pegged assets as easy as swiping a debit card. It's a direct assault on the legacy financial rails, bypassing traditional settlement delays and correspondent banking fees.

Building the Payments Backbone

This isn't just about buying companies; it's about assembling infrastructure. Sequence brings the developer tools to embed wallets into any app. Coinme brings the physical points where digital assets turn into cash—and vice versa. Stitch them together on Polygon's high-throughput chain, and you've got a closed-loop system for global value transfer. The play is obvious: become the default settlement layer for the next generation of commerce.

A Cynical Take from Finance

Let's be real—the traditional payments industry extracts value by moving slowly and taking a cut at every border. Polygon's vision cuts out the middlemen. Whether the old guard sees this as innovation or existential threat depends entirely on which side of the ledger they're sitting on. Some banks will partner; most will fight it until their quarterly reports force a reckoning.

The acquisition sends a clear signal: the race for real-world crypto utility is heating up, and Polygon intends to win by owning the pipes, not just the protocol.

Building Regulated Scale for Stablecoin Payments

Together with Polygon, Coinme and Sequence have already processed more than $1 billion in offchain sales and over $2 trillion in onchain value transfers.

As payments activity grows, Polygon Chain is positioned to capture increased onchain throughput and network fees, directly benefiting validators and stakers.

The acquisitions come as stablecoins continue to gain traction as a settlement LAYER for global payments, particularly following recent progress on U.S. federal stablecoin regulation.

Polygon’s strategy is to combine compliant fiat access with onchain settlement at scale, creating a vertically integrated payments stack.

Coinme Brings U.S. Licensing and Physical Distribution

Founded in 2014, Coinme is one of the earliest licensed digital currency exchanges in the United States. The company holds money-transmitter licenses covering 48 U.S. states and operates a physical fiat-to-crypto network across more than 50,000 retail locations.

Coinme also provides regulated crypto-as-a-service offerings for fintechs and enterprises, alongside licensed wallet infrastructure, enterprise APIs and SDKs.

Backed by investors including Pantera, Digital Currency Group, Coinstar, Circle and MoneyGram, Coinme serves enterprise customers such as Exodus, Coinstar, Mercuryo and Baanx, in addition to more than one million retail users.

Following regulatory approvals, Coinme will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Polygon Labs.

Sequence Adds Wallets and Cross-Chain Intents

Sequence contributes smart wallet technology and a one-click cross-chain orchestration and intents engine that abstracts away complexity for users. Its infrastructure enables payments across multiple blockchains without requiring users to manage bridges, swaps or gas.

Backed by investors including Brevan Howard Digital, Initialized Capital, Coinbase, Polychain and Consensys, Sequence supports major ecosystems such as Polygon, Arbitrum and Immutable while also partnering with Google Cloud as a distribution channel.

Its Trails platform provides universal rails for cross-chain transactions and interoperable stablecoin payments, including support for Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol.

The Open Money Stack Vision

By combining Coinme’s regulated fiat access with Sequence’s wallet and cross-chain capabilities, Polygon aims to deliver an open, integrated payments platform for banks, fintechs, enterprises, remittance providers and merchants.

The goal is to allow real-time, 24/7 stablecoin settlements with lower fees, reduced reliance on correspondent banking and predictable pricing.

“Stablecoins are increasingly being used as a settlement layer for global payments, but the infrastructure around them remains fragmented,” said Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs.

Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal added that the Open Money Stack provides a clear path to support trillions of dollars moving onchain, while keeping the network open and interoperable.

Polygon’s onchain stablecoin supply reached approximately $3.3 billion at the end of 2025, according to data compiled on Dune.