Y Combinator announced Tuesday that YC-funded startups, for the first time, can now choose to receive their funding in stablecoins.

Starting with the Spring 2026 batch, startups can elect to receive their standard $500,000 of YC funding in USDC on most major blockchain networks. Founders can choose to receive their funding in either stablecoins or cash, but not both at this time,  according to YC Visiting Partner Nemil Dalal, who previously served as director of product at Coinbase. 

The decision to give startups the option was driven by both founder demand and YC’s view of where financial infrastructure is heading.

The move, YC contends, allows founders to receive capital globally, in seconds, for pennies, instead of relying “on slower, more expensive traditional rails.”

Since 2012, the accelerator has funded nearly 100 crypto startups.

“Many of those founders already rely on stablecoins to move and store money across borders because they’re faster and cheaper than traditional rails,” Dalal told This Week in Fintech. “At the same time, with regulatory clarity improving and adoption accelerating, we see stablecoins becoming an increasingly important part of how startups handle core financial needs over time. In practice, stablecoins make sending money closer to sending a text message than sending a wire.”

Bottom line: YC believes that offering funding in stablecoins is a natural extension of supporting founders “where they already are” and where “things are going next.” 

“The fact that stablecoins have succeeded despite regulatory headwinds speaks to just how strong market demand for them is,” YC said in a September blog post.

Dalal said the accelerator expects initial interest to be strongest among crypto and crypto-adjacent startups, since stablecoins are already core to how they operate. Over time, he thinks that will expand “well beyond” crypto-native companies. 

“The goal isn’t to push every company in one direction, but to give founders flexibility,” Dalal added.

YC has invested in a number of stablecoin startups. For example, Dalal points to companies like DolarApp, Kontigo and Aspora, noting that they are using stablecoins “to power fast, low-cost payments and remittances for users across Latin America and South Asia.”

In addition, he said, YC is actively encouraging more founders to build in the space. Working with Coinbase, YC has put out a request for startups under the premise that “stablecoins are one of the most mature and promising areas of onchain development,” particularly for payments and cross-border financial services. 

“Our goal is to fund more teams building this infrastructure,” Dalal told This Week in Fintech, “and to support founders who want to build onchain as adoption and regulatory clarity continue to improve…In the future, we expect more and more of the financial needs of startups to be enabled by blockchains.”

Overall, YC believes that stablecoins’ adoption in the U.S. is set to explode after the successful passage of the GENIUS Act, which creates a comprehensive federal regulatory system for stablecoins that mirrors the system for banks.