I think they’re referring to net present value of future cash is determined by the difference between interest rates and inflation discounted over time. As inflation has gone up so have interest rates. Cash today is worth more in the future, especially if inflation is tamed and you locked in a good interest rate on a long dated bond.

Sort of. The value of companies is (meme stock speculation notwithstanding) the net present value of their future cash flows; for startups that tends to be far into the future cash flows. It's only natural that the price drops when interest rates go up.

But that's due to noncash instruments having higher-than-previously nominal yields. The long-term value of cash is unaffected. (Except to the extent that the higher opportunity cost of holding cash lowers the value of cash.)

This is about the opposite of long-term value, it's about the value of cash right now. This deal is mainly about letting Stripe employees cash out today, and high inflation means cash today is scarce/expensive.

> and high inflation means cash today is scarce/expensive.

High inflation means cash is abundant/cheap. That's what inflation means.

No it doesn't. It means cash is becoming more abundant/cheaper, i.e. it's scarce/expensive now compared to the future.

OK, I see what you're saying.

But I don't see how this can be an explanation of Stripe's nominal value now being lower than it was in the past - inflation between the past and now means cash is cheaper now than it was then. This looks more like an explanation of Stripe's value now being lower than Stripe's value in the future?

Stripe's value now is, very roughly, the expected value of its future dividends, and the amount of expected inflation between now and when those get paid is much more than the amount of inflation that's actually happened in the past few months.