In a significant development for the blockchain payments landscape, Stripe and Paradigm have teamed up to unveil Tempo, a layer-1 blockchain specifically crafted for stablecoin transactions. Announced on September 4 by Paradigm’s founder Matt Huang, this venture has garnered attention following Stripe’s earlier, swiftly retracted job postings related to blockchain engineering.
Currently, Tempo is in its private testnet phase, collaborating with a select group of partners to facilitate cross-border payouts, business-to-business payments, and remittances. Huang emphasized in his announcement that the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible network is engineered to handle high-volume payment scenarios through optimized infrastructure. Key features include consistently low fees, the capability to conduct transactions using various stablecoins via a built-in automated market maker, and enhancements tailored for user experience.
With a processing capacity exceeding 100,000 transactions per second and sub-second finality, Tempo employs a dedicated payments lane to differentiate routine transactions from complex smart contract operations. Design partners include a diverse mix of companies, such as Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, and Visa. This lineup reflects a concerted effort to bridge traditional finance with emerging fintech solutions.
Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, commented on the initiative, stating, “The future is multi-chain: stablecoins will operate across diverse blockchain networks and Visa is enabling interoperability between chains and stablecoin brands.” This vision is indicative of the broader trend towards enhanced blockchain integration and cross-platform functioning.
A standout feature of Tempo is its approach to stablecoin usage, promoting stablecoin neutrality that allows any entity to issue stablecoins and utilize them for payments or gas fees. This is a departure from other networks that may favor specific stablecoin issuers or require the use of native tokens for transactions. The built-in automated market maker facilitates smooth exchanges between different stablecoins.
To address growing enterprise concerns around transaction privacy, Tempo includes options for privacy-focused transactions alongside compliance mechanisms to adhere to regulatory standards, including anti-money laundering and know-your-customer protocols. These capabilities aim to meet the real-world demand for various payment flows—encompassing global payouts, embedded financial accounts, rapid remittances, tokenized deposits for continuous settlement, microtransactions, and automated payments.
Built on Reth, Tempo retains EVM compatibility while honing in on payment-centric functionalities. The network’s validator nodes will initially be operated by independent entities, including its design partners, transitioning to a permissionless framework in the future.
With Tempo, Stripe enters a growing ecosystem focused on payment solutions leveraging stablecoins, joining peers like Circle, which recently introduced Arc, a multi-chain infrastructure for stablecoin transactions. Tempo aims not to compete directly with existing general-purpose blockchains but to complement them, positioning itself as a vital player in the evolving financial technology landscape.
