- Polygon Labs signs definitive agreements to acquire Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million
- The deals are positioned to add three capabilities: fiat on/off-ramps (including cash access), wallet infrastructure, and cross-chain orchestration via “intents.”
Polygon Labs has signed deals to buy U.S. crypto on-ramp provider Coinme and wallet infrastructure firm Sequence for over $250 million.
The acquisitions add three building blocks Polygon has been pitching as part of a forthcoming “Open Money Stack”: regulated cash and fiat on- and off-ramps in the U.S., wallet infrastructure, and cross-chain “intents” software that routes transactions across blockchains behind the scenes. Polygon has not provided the break out of the price paid for each company or specify whether consideration is cash, equity or a mix.
The move comes as stablecoins push deeper into the financial system, helped by a clearer U.S. rulebook. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025, creating a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, including reserve requirements and public disclosures. In parallel, transaction volumes have been accelerating: total stablecoin transaction volume rose to $33 trillion in 2025, up 72%.
“Stablecoins are increasingly being used as a settlement layer for global payments, but the infrastructure around them remains fragmented,” Polygon Labs Chief Executive Officer Marc Boiron said in a statement, adding that the acquisitions would help Polygon build “an open payments business on top of onchain settlement.”
A regulated on-ramp, plus wallet rails
Coinme, founded in 2014, operates a cash-to-crypto distribution network and compliance infrastructure that Polygon says includes money-transmitter licenses enabling operations in 48 U.S. states, alongside a footprint spanning more than 50,000 retail locations.
Polygon said Coinme will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary after the transaction closes, subject to regulatory approvals.
The Coinme deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Sequence is expected to close this month, Polygon said.
CoinDesk reported earlier this month that Polygon was close to buying Coinme, citing sources who pegged the price at roughly $100 million to $125 million.
Sequence brings “smart wallet” tooling and an intents-based cross-chain orchestration engine that aims to make crypto payments feel more like standard card payments—abstracting away bridging, swaps and network gas fees. Sequence has also been building a product called Trails, which it describes as “universal rails” for one-click crypto transactions across chains and tokens; it has highlighted integrations that include Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which moves USDC between networks via native burn-and-mint.
Why Polygon is buying rather than building
Polygon’s pitch is that payments won’t move onchain at scale unless users and merchants can enter and exit seamlessly—using cash, debit rails or enterprise APIs—while staying inside compliant perimeters. That puts regulated on-ramps and wallet UX at the center of the strategy, not just blockspace.
In its announcement, Polygon said the combined businesses—alongside Polygon—have processed more than $1 billion in offchain sales and more than $2 trillion in onchain value transfers. Polygon also cited Dune data showing its onchain stablecoin supply ended 2025 at about $3.3 billion, a three-year high.
The acquisitions also reflect competitive pressure. Multiple blockchain ecosystems are racing to position themselves as the default settlement layer for stablecoin payments, a market that is increasingly being framed as infrastructure rather than speculation. Ledger Insights, which covered Polygon’s Open Money Stack push earlier this month, described the space as a “land grab” as rivals build payment-focused networks.
Regulation is (finally) a tailwind — but it raises the bar
Polygon and its acquisition targets are leaning into Washington’s shift from enforcement-heavy ambiguity to prescriptive rules. The White House fact sheet for the GENIUS Act said the law created the “first-ever Federal regulatory system for stablecoins,” including 100% reserve backing with liquid assets and monthly public reserve disclosures.
That same clarity is also forcing infrastructure providers to meet higher compliance and operational standards—especially around custody, disclosures, and the on- and off-ramps that interface with banks and retail distribution.
The policy shift is not without critics. Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, warned U.S. stablecoin policy could accelerate “dollarization” and destabilize parts of the global payments system by making access to dollar-like instruments easier outside the U.S.
What changes for developers and payment firms
Polygon is marketing the combined stack as a way for banks, fintechs, merchants, remittance providers and payout platforms to tap stablecoin settlement while avoiding the rough edges of crypto UX—like multiple wallets, chain fragmentation and unpredictable fees.
In effect, Coinme offers regulated distribution and conversion (cash, debit rails and enterprise integrations), while Sequence provides wallet-layer and cross-chain routing tools intended to smooth out the end-user experience. Polygon’s bet is that collapsing those components into a tighter, integrated stack will lower the cost and complexity of launching stablecoin payment products—and push more volume onto Polygon’s chain, where throughput and fees accrue to the network’s validators and stakers.
Whether that strategy works may come down to adoption by mainstream payment platforms and whether Polygon can keep the stack “open” while absorbing regulated infrastructure—an area where incumbents are wary of vendor lock-in.
For now, the timeline is clear: Sequence closes first, providing immediate wallet-and-orchestration tooling; Coinme follows later, pending regulatory approvals, bringing U.S.-focused compliant rails that Polygon sees as critical to scaling stablecoin payments beyond crypto-native users.
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