Tempo Public Chain Fully Open: Stripe and Paradigm Lead the Stablecoin Payment Revolution

Well-known fintech company Stripe and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm jointly launched the payment-specific blockchain Tempo, which has officially opened the public testnet.

This move marks a new stage in enterprise blockchain applications, with new partners including UBS and prediction market operator Kalshi, further expanding its financial application landscape.

01 Project Launch

On December 9, 2025, a key milestone was reached in the fintech industry. The Tempo blockchain, incubated jointly by Stripe and Paradigm, officially launched its public testnet.

This Layer 1 blockchain, designed specifically for payment scenarios, is open to all companies interested in building real-world stablecoin payment applications.

For Stripe, this signifies a comprehensive upgrade of its crypto strategy. The company, valued at $106 billion, processed $1.4 trillion in payments in 2024, accounting for approximately 1.3% of global GDP.

02 Unique Design

Tempo’s core goal is to address the fundamental pain points of traditional blockchains in payment scenarios. On general-purpose blockchains, payment transactions must compete for block space with activities like NFT minting, clearing, and high-frequency contract calls, leading to unpredictable delays and fee fluctuations.

Tempo solves this problem through protocol-level innovations. It reserves guaranteed block space for payment transactions at the protocol level, making them unaffected by other types of traffic.

This design enables Tempo to provide low-cost and predictable payment experiences, with a target transaction fee of 0.1 cents.

03 Elite Team

Behind Tempo is a team composed of top industry talents. In addition to core support from Stripe and Paradigm, the project has attracted many renowned experts.

Including former Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist, former Optimism Labs CEO Liam Horne, and Lehigh University professor Mallesh Pai.

This deep integration of technology and business gives Tempo unique advantages in design and implementation. Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang also serves as the project lead, ensuring cutting-edge crypto ideas are directly infused into development.

04 Powerful Alliance

Tempo’s list of partners reads like a who’s who in global fintech. New partners include multinational investment bank UBS, US-based cross-border bank RiverBank, and prediction market platform Kalshi.

Early collaborators are also impressive: Deutsche Bank, digital bank Nubank, AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic have joined this ecosystem.

Notably, buy-now-pay-later company Klarna has launched a USD-pegged stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, on Tempo and plans to launch on Tempo mainnet in 2026.

05 Funding Background

Although Stripe and Paradigm incubated Tempo, neither participated in the Series A funding round in October 2025.

This round was led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, raising $500 million, giving Tempo an estimated valuation of about $5 billion.

Notable venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel also participated, showing a shared optimism from traditional finance and crypto investment sectors.

06 Technical Architecture

Unlike many emerging blockchain projects, Tempo chose to build an independent Layer 1 blockchain rather than a Layer 2 solution on existing networks.

This strategic choice allows Tempo to fully control transaction settlement networks, fee models, and compliance pathways. Opting for Layer 2 would mean building on another network’s backbone, exposing the project to risks such as fee volatility, governance dependence, and performance limitations.

Tempo is designed as an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1, optimized specifically for high-throughput payments and settlements.

07 Competitive Landscape

Tempo is directly entering a forming competitive arena. Its most direct competitor is Layer 1 blockchain “Arc” launched by stablecoin issuer Circle.

Both target the enterprise payment market, signaling that competition over stablecoin settlement layers is shifting from application layer to infrastructure layer.

Tempo’s biggest advantage lies in Stripe’s existing large merchant network, which solves the “cold start” problem faced by new blockchains. Stripe can seamlessly onboard its existing customers onto the Tempo network, creating strong network effects.

08 Industry Impact

Stripe’s move to build its own Layer 1 marks a deepening of integration between Web2 giants and blockchain technology. This action may signal several important market messages.

Firstly, the market narrative might shift from “pure decentralization” toward “compliant asset flow.” Secondly, the public chain race may see “diversion,” splitting into native crypto chains represented by Ethereum and enterprise-specific chains like Tempo.

Lastly, investment opportunities could focus on infrastructure development for “compliant stablecoin ecosystems.”

09 Future Outlook

According to official Tempo information, the initial test network was operated by four companies’ validators, but will expand its validator set, include design partners, and eventually move toward a permissionless model.

Tempo’s client is open source, allowing anyone to run a node. This design lays a foundation for future decentralization.

As the mainnet launch approaches in 2026, Tempo is expected to change how enterprises perceive and utilize blockchain payments, especially by providing reliable infrastructure for stablecoin applications in real-world business scenarios.

Future Outlook

When UBS and Kalshi appear among the new partners for Tempo, it is no longer just a technological experiment.

Klarna plans to launch its USD stablecoin on Tempo mainnet in 2026, and Stripe’s large merchant network may soon witness trillions of dollars in payment flows migrating to this new blockchain.

As global payment giants join forces with crypto pioneers, they are building not just a blockchain but a bridge connecting traditional finance and the crypto world, which will redefine the way global commercial transactions flow.