Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has raised $500 million in a Series A round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, according to a report from Fortune, citing people familiar with the matter.
The round values Tempo at roughly $5 billion and includes participation from Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel, the outlet said. Stripe and Paradigm did not invest in the round.
Tempo is designed as an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 optimized for high-throughput payments and settlement. The network is already working with firms including OpenAI, Shopify, Visa, Anthropic, and Deutsche Bank, according to earlier statements from Stripe CEO Patrick Collison.
Collison described Tempo as “the payments-oriented L1, optimized for real-world financial-services applications,” when the project was first unveiled in September. Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, who also sits on Stripe’s board, is leading the initiative.
The new funding adds momentum to Stripe’s expanding crypto strategy. The $92 billion fintech giant has spent the past year deepening its exposure through acquisitions such as Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm bought for $1.1 billion, and Privy, a crypto-wallet provider acquired in June. Stripe has also integrated Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 network into its crypto payments stack.
Today’s fundraising report follows the announcement that Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist has joined Tempo as a senior engineer. Feist said the project shares Ethereum’s “permissionless ideals” and is “built for the next era of on-chain financial services.”
