Stripe and Paradigm Unveil Tempo Blockchain Testnet with Top Partners

Tempo blockchain, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has launched its public testnet, offering instant, low-fee stablecoin payments. Major partners include Klarna, Mastercard, UBS, and OpenAI, with a focus on real-world financial applications.

Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has launched its public testnet, enabling companies to build real-world stablecoin payment applications. The protocol, valued at $5 billion after a $500 million Series A round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, is designed as an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain optimized for high-throughput payments and instant settlement with predictably low fees. Tempo separates payment traffic from trading activity, ensuring trading congestion does not affect payroll or vendor transfers, and charges a fixed $0.001 fee per transaction, payable in US dollar-denominated stablecoins. The blockchain is already collaborating with firms such as OpenAI, Shopify, Visa, Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, Klarna, Mastercard, UBS, and Kalshi. Klarna plans to launch a USD-backed stablecoin on Tempo's mainnet in 2026. Tempo aims to address scalability, high transaction costs, and integration challenges between traditional finance and blockchain, offering enhanced speed, transparency, and lower operational costs to accelerate institutional adoption of blockchain technology for payments.