Stripe closes the OpenRouter deal: Alex Atallah promises 'same name, same product, same roadmap' as Patrick Collison calls tokens 'the central currency'
Stripe's newsroom confirmed the OpenRouter acquisition on August 19, ending the rumor cycle Bloomberg started on August 16 with a reported $7B+ price. Atallah's announcement thread argued the thesis that made the deal possible: "We believe intelligence will be multi-model: no single model will be optimal for every task, and developers need a neutral layer to orchestrate and manage them all." Collison framed it as a payments problem, saying "Tokens are the central currency for companies building with AI," and the gateway routes across 400+ models from 80+ providers for customers including NVIDIA, Zoom and Lovable. Matt Shumer, an early investor, called it a "generational run" for a company that raised a $113M Series B at $1.3B in May.
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