Y Combinator, the renowned Silicon Valley startup incubator behind giants like Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe, has announced a strategic partnership with Base and Coinbase Ventures. This collaboration aims to foster the next generation of "Fintech 3.0" startups, as detailed in a recent blog post.
The alliance is now accepting applications from innovative projects focused on key areas. These include expanding stablecoin utility beyond the US dollar to incorporate local currencies, tokenizing traditional assets like stocks and credit markets, and developing consumer-centric applications powered by AI-driven financial agents.
This initiative is a significant step in the broader mission to transition the global financial industry onto blockchain technology. A leading example is Base, an Ethereum layer-2 solution developed by Coinbase, which recently integrated with Shopify to enable worldwide USDC payments.
“Base’s mission is to create a global, on-chain economy that fosters innovation, creativity, and freedom. Achieving this requires empowering more founders to build on-chain businesses, enabling universal participation in the global economy,” the blog post stated.
This development coincides with positive regulatory advancements in the U.S., including the GENIUS Act, which seeks to establish clear federal guidelines for stablecoin issuers. Lawmakers are also progressing on comprehensive crypto market structure legislation.