Key Highlights
- Klarna to launch USD-backed stablecoin KlarnaUSD on Tempo mainnet in 2026.
- Klarna is bringing its ‘buy now pay later’ service on-chain for 114M users, targeting the $27T stablecoin market and cheaper cross-border flows.
- The move follows clearer regulators for stablecoins taking place in both the US and Europe, providing room for stablecoin growth.
Swedish fintech giant Klarna is preparing to issue its own fully USD-backed stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, marking one of the most significant moves yet by a major consumer-finance company into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
As reported by Financial Times, the stablecoin is currently in private testing and it is scheduled to launch on Tempo, a new Layer 1 blockchain co-developed by payments processor Stripe and crypto investment firm Paradigm, when the network goes live in 2026. With the move, Klarna intends to become the first traditional financial institution to issue a stablecoin directly on Tempo’s mainnet.
“With stablecoin transactions already at $27T a year, we’re bringing faster, cheaper cross-border payments to our 114M customers,” the firm noted in their X post, “Crypto is finally ready for scale. This is just the beginning.”
Tempo, which announced a $500 million funding at a $5 billion valuation in October 2025, is designed specifically for high-throughput stablecoin settlements.
Klarna’s leap in stablecoin business
Klarna, which serves 114 million active consumers and facilitated $112 billion in gross merchandise volume last year, sees the token as a way to bring its signature “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) model on-chain.
The company believes integrating stablecoins into its payment rails will dramatically reduce friction for cross-border transactions and eventually enable new yield-bearing credit products in decentralized finance (DeFi).
“Klarna has always been about smoothing payments for consumers and merchants,” a person close to the project told the FT. “A regulated, 1:1 USD-backed stablecoin issued on a purpose-built chain like Tempo lets us take that mission global in a way that legacy rails simply can’t match.”
Stablecoin’s growing popularity
The move comes as regulators in both the US and Europe have begun providing clearer frameworks for stablecoin issuers. In the EU, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation that took full effect in 2024 already classifies fully reserved stablecoins as electronic money. In the United States, the GENIUS Act has created a federal pathway for non-bank issuers under OCC oversight.
The announcement has electrified the cryptocurrency community on X, with users circulating memes about “buy crypto now, pay later” schemes and speculating about potential KlarnaUSD liquidity-mining programs or airdrops tied to the Tempo mainnet launch.
Stripe, which acquired bridge-provider Bridge for $1.1 billion earlier this year and has steadily increased its crypto infrastructure bets. It recently applied for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to organize a national trust bank.
For Klarna, whose valuation has rebounded to roughly $15 billion after a brutal 2022 markdown, the stablecoin represents both a defensive play—protecting its payment volume from disintermediation—and an offensive bet on the convergence of fintech and decentralized finance.
Also read: Japan to Mandate Crypto Exchanges to Hold Liability Reserves
