How Stripe Built a $100B+ Payments Infrastructure Without Holding Customer Money

Stripe's $100B+ valuation makes it the most valuable private fintech company. The innovation: instead of being a money transmitter (requiring bank licenses in every state), Stripe partners with banks to process payments. This asset-light model enabled rapid global expansion (46 countries). Revenue model: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Key products evolved: Payments → Connect (marketplace payments) → Atlas (startup incorporation) → Treasury (banking-as-a-service). Stripe's developer experience is its moat: best-in-class API documentation, SDKs, and tools that make integration hours instead of weeks.