CENTER VALLEY, Pa. & KENT, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 11, 2025--
Shift4 Payments, Inc. (“Shift4”) (NYSE: FOUR), the leader in integrated payments and commerce technology, and Blue Origin, the pioneering space exploration company, are working together to enable customers to pay in cryptocurrency and stablecoins for trips to space.
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Starting today and powered by Shift4’s seamless payments technology, consumers can pay with popular cryptocurrencies and stablecoins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, USDT and USDC for trips to space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard. To date, more than 75 humans have boarded the reusable rocket to reach past the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary into space. Customers will also have the option to connect popular wallets like Coinbase and MetaMask, ensuring instant, direct and secure payment processing.
“Our mission has always been to revolutionize commerce by simplifying the transaction process, and we’re thrilled to now extend that vision beyond Earth,” said Taylor Lauber, CEO of Shift4. “Together with Blue Origin, we are making space accessible to explorers around the globe. This partnership will enable adventurous travelers to book the adventure of a lifetime, no matter their preferred payment method - all with a simple, frictionless experience.”
Shift4 has long been a leader in innovation, and this new integration effectively builds on its current capabilities and network of global partners to support customers around the world with next-generation payment solutions. Enabling crypto and stablecoin payments through Shift4 will allow Blue Origin to tap into a growing user base of crypto holders, to support immediate international transactions, and faster settlement in United States Dollars, at any time of day, and on any day of the week.
This new payment offering is available immediately for all upcoming commercial spaceflight bookings on Blue Origin’s New Shepard as consumer demand for easy and secure digital payment options continues to grow.
“Crypto is now a $4 trillion asset class, and the sky is the limit when it comes to its potential in the current payments ecosystem,” said Alex Wilson, Head of Crypto at Shift4. “We believe crypto and stablecoins are going to become an increasingly popular way for consumers to pay, particularly for high-end purchases, as both the consumer and merchant benefit financially from these transactions.”
For more information on how you can become one of the first 1000 people to fly to space visit www.blueorigin.com/new-shepard/fly
About Shift4
Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) is boldly redefining commerce by simplifying complex payments ecosystems across the world. As the leader in commerce-enabling technology, Shift4 powers billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses in virtually every industry. For more information, visit shift4.com.
About Blue Origin
Blue Origin builds reusable rocket engines, launch vehicles, in-space systems, and lunar landers. New Shepard, Blue Origin's suborbital vehicle carries passengers to an altitude of over 100km, providing unparalleled views of Earth through some of the largest windows in space.
Shift4 Partners With Blue Origin
SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--
Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.
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Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.
This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.
Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.
“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”
The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:
“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
