Seizing the Stablecoin Track: Stripe and Paradigm Bet on Tempo

Deng Tong, Jin Se Cai Jin

According to multiple insiders, payment giant Stripe is accelerating its layout in the blockchain sector with a new project called Tempo, appointing Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, as the first CEO of Tempo. Huang is also a member of Stripe's board and will continue to serve as a managing partner at Paradigm.

What is the Tempo project? What can Stripe and Paradigm bring to Tempo? Why are these two giant companies paying so much attention to Tempo?

1. What is the Tempo project?

Tempo is a Layer 1 public blockchain developed in collaboration between fintech giant Stripe and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). It uses the same programming language as Ethereum, allowing developers to directly migrate existing smart contracts and lowering the technical barrier. Its design goal is to support high-frequency, low-latency payment transactions, with a particular focus on real-time settlement of stablecoins and cross-border payment scenarios, aiming to bypass traditional intermediaries like Visa and Mastercard through blockchain technology, significantly reducing transaction costs and improving efficiency.

The project is currently in a low-key development state, consisting of a team of five. It is still unclear whether the project will issue its own native token.

2. What can Stripe and Paradigm bring to Tempo?

Stripe and Paradigm have collaborated to develop Tempo.

With convenient online checkout and business automated invoicing payment products, Stripe's valuation has grown to nearly $92 billion. In recent years, Stripe has also set its sights on the cryptocurrency sector: in October 2024, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for $1.1 billion. Bridge supports businesses in issuing and managing stablecoins, and Tempo directly integrates with this system to enable the circulation and settlement of stablecoins on-chain; in June 2025, Stripe acquired embedded crypto wallet developer Privy, allowing users to quickly create wallets through email or social accounts. Tempo is deeply integrated with Privy to create a “wallet - chain - payment” closed loop, enabling users to pay merchants directly with stablecoins through the Stripe wallet in the future, with the entire transaction completed on Tempo. Stripe provides Tempo with its global merchant network, payment risk control system, and compliance capabilities, helping Tempo quickly access a vast number of enterprise users.

Paradigm, co-founded by former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang and Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, is a leader in the cryptocurrency venture capital space. As of 2024, the firm manages assets totaling $12.7 billion and has invested in some of the industry's top projects, including the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap, the prediction market Kalshi, and the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Fireblocks. Paradigm has extensive experience in incubating proprietary projects similar to Tempo, including the Ethereum developer toolbox Foundry and the open-source crypto bot Artemis. Paradigm's expertise and rich industry resources will tilt towards Tempo, aiding in its rapid development.

3. Why do the two giant companies attach such importance to Tempo?

The answer is that Tempo can help Stripe and Paradigm win the stablecoin landing battle.

In July 2025, the United States passed the GENIUS Act, providing a clearer legal framework for stablecoin regulation, eliminating the regulatory vacuum around stablecoin payments. Major players are seizing the regulatory trend and entering the competition for stablecoins.

Stripe is betting on this stablecoin competition through Tempo. The launch of Tempo marks Stripe's official transition from a payment intermediary to a foundational builder of blockchain technology. By controlling stablecoin issuance (Bridge), wallet access (Privy), and transaction settlement (Tempo), Stripe will form a complete payment ecosystem, fundamentally changing the traditional payment process.

Directly controlling the issuance of stablecoins, wallet access, and transaction settlement can reduce Stripe's reliance on traditional banking networks and third-party payment clearing institutions, thereby lowering operating costs. At the same time, Tempo supports high-frequency, low-latency payment transactions as well as real-time settlement and cross-border payments for stablecoins, significantly enhancing the user payment experience and attracting more merchants and consumers to use its payment services, consolidating and expanding market share. In addition, Stripe has a broad user base that includes many businesses and individual users, and the launch of Tempo can provide these users with more innovative payment solutions to meet payment needs in different scenarios, further enhancing user stickiness.

For Paradigm, although it is a top venture capital institution in the crypto industry, its experience in building its own blockchain projects still needs to be accumulated, and Tempo is a good attempt. Tempo is not a project for short-term speculation, but rather an enterprise-level payment network for the long term. Tempo not only conducts retail transfers but also builds payment infrastructure for targeted clients. This strategic direction aligns with Paradigm's long-term value investment. If Tempo's attempt is successful, Paradigm will attract more companies similar to Tempo for collaboration, and this partnership with payment giant Stripe will help further consolidate its investment resources and influence in the blockchain world.

IV. Appendix: Who is Matt Huang?

• In 2010, Matt Huang graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics.
• In 2010, Matt Huang founded Hotspots (a social media data analysis and trend prediction company), which received support from Y Combinator and was acquired by Twitter in 2012.
• From 2014 to 2018, Matt Huang worked as a partner at Sequoia Capital, during which he had already begun to make inroads into the cryptocurrency-related field.
• In 2018, Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam co-founded Paradigm, an investment firm focused on crypto and blockchain.

Matt Huang has a unique investment vision and has invested in startups including ByteDance, Instacart, Amplitude, Benchling, and PlanGrid. As a co-founder of Paradigm, the extensive resources he has accumulated in the crypto industry over the years can provide maximum support for Tempo. Moreover, because Matt Huang also serves as a board member of Stripe and the first CEO of Tempo, the three companies are highly interconnected through Matt Huang, which can promote collaboration between the companies and accelerate the implementation of the Tempo project.