Global payments giant Stripe has officially launched a new blockchain, Tempo, in collaboration with crypto investment firm Paradigm, aiming to redefine stablecoin payments for real-world financial services.
Introducing @Tempo.
At Stripe, we care about high-throughput, low-latency payments use cases. As the use of stablecoins (and crypto more broadly) grows across Stripe, Bridge, and Privy, we found that existing blockchains are not optimized for them.
For example, it's valuable…
— Patrick Collison (@patrickc) September 4, 2025
Announced on September 4, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison described Tempo as a “payment-first Layer-1 blockchain optimized for large-scale, real-world financial use cases.” The platform has been in development through Stripe’s partnership with Paradigm, with a focus on scalability, low fees, and institutional adoption.
Key Features of Tempo
High Performance: Targeting over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) with finality under one second.
Gas Fees in Any Stablecoin: An integrated automated market maker enables gas fees to be paid in any stablecoin, lowering adoption barriers.
Ethereum Compatibility: Built on Reth, maintaining full EVM compatibility, allowing developers to use existing tools and frameworks.
Unique Enhancements: Optional privacy features, dedicated payment lanes, and compliance tools such as asset-freezing functions.
Stripe envisions Tempo as a backbone for payroll, cross-border remittances, embedded financial accounts, and AI-driven microtransactions.
Industry Adoption and Partners
Major companies including Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, DoorDash, Revolut, and Nubank have already joined as early design partners, assisting with integration testing and payment workflows.
Collison emphasized that Tempo addresses long-standing challenges in blockchain infrastructure:
Existing chains like Bitcoin (≈5 TPS) and Ethereum (≈20 TPS) fall far short of Stripe’s internal requirements of over 10,000 TPS at peak times.
Legacy blockchains require fees in native tokens, whereas businesses prefer predictable, fiat-denominated fees.
The launch also coincides with growing institutional interest following the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act (July 2025), the first stablecoin-focused regulatory framework in the country. Similarly, Tokyo-based startup JPYC is also preparing to launch the nation’s first yen-pegged stablecoin.
A Push for Mainstream Stablecoin Adoption
Paradigm’s co-founder Matt Huang highlighted that Tempo was designed around decentralization and neutrality, with plans to evolve into a permissionless, globally accessible network. Built-in compliance tools aim to bridge the gap between decentralization and regulatory requirements, potentially accelerating stablecoin adoption at scale.
