Stripe and Paradigm 's Tempo blockchain launches public testnet. Photo: CryptoSlate
Tempo , a blockchain protocol focused on payments incubated by Stripe and Paradigm , officially launched its public testnet after months of internal testing. The project is currently valued at approximately $5 billion following Capital rounds from leading Venture Capital , most notably Sequoia Capital .
Tempo's testnet is live!
— tempo (@tempo) December 9, 2025
Any company can now build on a payments-first chain designed for instant settlement, predictable fees, and a stablecoin-native experience.
Tempo has been shaped with a wide group of partners validating real workloads including @AnthropicAI , @Coupang ,… pic.twitter.com/tHcjuBRGZb
Unlike traditional multi-purpose blockchains, Tempo is designed with the sole objective of becoming the backbone for real-world payments and stablecoins . According to the project's claims, the network offers instant payments with extremely low latency, fixed transaction fees, and a complete stablecoin experience.
Now, any developer or organization can participate in running nodes, synchronizing chain data, and building payment applications directly on the network. Tempo is also deploying a toolkit for developers, supporting wallets, transaction metadata, transaction signing mechanisms, and specialized payment processing channels – completely separate from regular asset trading operations – to ensure consistent speed and cost.
According to the newly revealed specifications, Tempo aims for a transaction completion time of approximately 0.5 seconds and a fixed processing fee of around $0.001 per transaction.
Regarding the partner ecosystem, Tempo stated that the prediction platformKalshi , Mastercard, and UBS are participating as design partners, directly testing and contributing to the network's operational standards. This list is expanding to include financial institutions and banking infrastructure such as Cross River Bank. In addition, the project is also collaborating with OpenAI, Shopify, Visa, Anthropic, and Deutsche Bank.
Financially, last October, the project reportedly raised $500 million in a Series A funding round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel. Stripe and Paradigm , which have been Vai since the beginning, did not directly participate in this investment round.
In terms of network structure, Tempo is designed as a layer-1 blockchain compatible with Ethereum, but specifically optimized for high-volume payments. Beyond money transfer functionality, the network also integrates a native decentralized exchange (DEX) focused on swapping stablecoins and Tokenize digital assets. Users can pay Gas Price and transact using a variety of supported stablecoins, instead of relying on a single volatile native Token .
Currently, the network operates with a limited number of validators, mostly internally managed by the project and its design partners. However, Tempo states that the roadmap includes expanding the validator pool towards permissionless operation, allowing more independent parties to participate in transaction validation.
One of the clearest commercial signals for the Tempo ecosystem comes from Klarna . Last month, this “buy now, pay later” company released KlarnaUSD, a USD Peg stablecoin built directly on the Tempo infrastructure. KlarnaUSD is expected to be officially deployed on Tempo's mainnet in 2026, paving the way for the integration of blockchain payments into large-scale consumer payment flows.
Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, once stated that Tempo was built from the ground up for stablecoins and real-world payments, combining Stripe's experience operating global payment systems with Paradigm's deep expertise in crypto infrastructure. The ultimate goal of the project is not just to create a new blockchain, but to reshape how digital currencies operate within modern financial systems.
Since resuming its crypto payment service late last year, Stripe has moved beyond "exploring" Web3 and adopted a direct offensive strategy. A landmark move was the acquisition of Bridge , a stablecoin infrastructure company, for $1.1 billion, one of the largest M&A deals in the crypto-fintech sector to date. By April 2025, CEO Patrick Collison confirmed that the stablecoin payment product built on the Bridge platform was ready for public launch.
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