Key Highlights
- Stripe and Paradigm launched their payments-focused Tempo blockchain for public testing.
- The Layer 1 network is designed to offer stablecoin transactions at a fixed cost of 0.1 cents per payment.
- UBS, Kalshi, and Cross River Bank were added as new partners.
Fintech firm Stripe and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm have announced the testnet launch of Tempo, a payment-focused L1 blockchain. This opens up the public payments-centric network to a larger audience of users.
“Any company can now build on a payments-first chain designed for instant settlement, predictable fees, and a stablecoin-native experience,” the team said in an X post.
The testnet launch was announced with a cohort of development partners, including global financial institution UBS, US-regulated prediction market operator Kalshi, and regional bank Cross River Bank. Going from a closed, private development for many months to a public test network, this milestone of Tempo represents a key step in its journey to widespread financial adoption.
Tempo is designed to help accelerate and simplify the onboarding process for stablecoin payments, offering a plug-and-play solution for businesses integrating digital currencies into existing financial workflows.
Fixed fees and technical design
A key technical vision of the network is to overcome one of the greatest weaknesses of many large public blockchain networks: unstable, often-increasing transaction fees. It does this through the utilization of an isolated payment channel to keep the settlement of payments separate from general network components.
This, in turn, enables Tempo to retain a fixed and predictable fee structure, with every standard payment transaction costing a reported 0.1 cents.
Expansion of institutional partnership
The continued expansion of the project’s partner ecosystem demonstrates growing institutional interest in optimized blockchain solutions. UBS and Kalshi join the current existing list of partners, including Deutsche Bank, Nubank, Visa, and AI development companies OpenAI and Anthropic.
The Tempo project is led by Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm. The network’s value to developers was captured best when the project was announced to “bridge the experience gap for developers considering practical use cases for stablecoins.”
In October, Tempo successfully secured $500 million in funding. This investment valued the company at approximately $5 billion. It was led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, with participation from firms like Sequoia and Ribbit Capital.
Tempo’s core strategy
Announced in September 2025, Tempo is built as a payment-focused Layer 1 blockchain. It serves as an independent primary network rather than being constructed as a scaling solution on top of another existing chain.
It was first conceptualized to build a network intended for high-volume, real-world financial services and to diverge from crypto infrastructure that traditionally has served trading and speculation more than anything else.
Tempo shows Stripe’s shift to more blockchain integration, which began in February 2025 with the purchase of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure, and earlier agreements with businesses like Visa that allowed stablecoins to be spent anywhere in various jurisdictions.
As part of this approach, Tempo aims to offer the high-throughput, low-latency performance needed for large-scale use cases, such as cross-border remittances, payroll processing, and global payouts.
Also Read: Stripe Launches USD Stablecoin Payments on Ethereum, Base, & Polygon
