Y Combinator’s New Crypto Batch Focuses on Stablecoins and Payments

• Stablecoin transfer volumes surpassed Visa and Mastercard combined in 2024.
• YC has backed 80 crypto and Web3 startups, including Coinbase, Protocol Labs, and CoinTracker.
• Stablecoins have a combined market cap of over $232 billion.

San Francisco-based venture capital firm and startup accelerator Y Combinator (YC) has added a fresh batch of crypto and Web3 startups to the first incubator of 2025.

With favorable regulatory changes coming to crypto and a year of incredible growth—at least in the U.S.—the startup accelerator is now throwing its weight behind stablecoin and digital payments startups.

YC Backs Stablecoins

Stablecoins are emerging as a dominant force in the crypto economy, with their role as a payment method becoming more pronounced.

According to crypto exchange CEX , in 2024, stablecoin transfer volumes exceeded $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.68%. A 59% increase in stablecoin supply and bullish market conditions drove this growth.

The trend is set to continue in 2025 as the U.S. moves toward a more crypto-friendly landscape under President Donald Trump.

Notably, Trump’s executive order banning the creation and issuance of U.S. dollar central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) has given stablecoins room to expand.

Y Combinator (YC) is doubling down on this momentum, backing three stablecoin startups this year.

• BlindPay provides international stablecoin payment infrastructure across multiple blockchains.
• Infinite offers a stablecoin payment processing platform tailored for small to medium-sized businesses.
• Karsa, a stablecoin neobank, allows users to buy U.S. dollar stablecoins with local currency and spend them globally via Visa cards.

YC in Crypto

Yesterday, the VC firm celebrated its 20th birthday. According to Y Combinator President and CEO Garry Tan, the firm has created “more than $800 million in market value” over these two decades.

Of the 80 crypto and Web3 firms it has backed over the years, some have become the most recognizable brands and trusted technologies in the space.

Notably, it fostered the early growth of Coinbase in 2012. Since then, the crypto exchange has gone on to become the face of crypto in the West.

After amassing millions of users and billions in assets and becoming a custodian of the multi-billion spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it now plays a crucial role in shaping crypto policies in the United States.

YC also threw its weight behind Web3 infrastructure firm, Protocol Labs. This company is responsible for creating the decentralized storage network, the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

It also created a separate blockchain-based storage network and crypto called Filecoin (FIL), which currently has a market cap of $1.7 billion.