Stripe, Paradigm unveil Tempo, a layer 1 blockchain for stablecoin payments

Stripe and Paradigm announced today the launch of Tempo, a blockchain platform designed to optimize stablecoin transactions and real-world payments, confirming earlier reporting that the two firms were quietly building a layer 1 solution.

The project, currently running on a private testnet, aims to address the growing demand for specialized stablecoin infrastructure, said Matt Huang, co-founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm.

“As stablecoins go mainstream, there’s a growing need for optimized infrastructure. Much of today’s crypto stack either explicitly or implicitly caters to trading but is comparatively underoptimized for payments,” Huang stated.

The network’s payment-first design features low fees, stablecoin gas payments via an enshrined AMM, a dedicated payments lane with opt-in privacy, and performance targeting over 100,000 transactions per second with sub-second settlement.

Built on Reth and fully EVM-compatible, Tempo aims to combine blockchain efficiency with user-friendly financial services.

The project received input from a strong group of early design partners from top-tier companies across AI, e-commerce, and financial services, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Deutsche Bank, Visa, Shopify, and Standard Chartered, among others.

Tempo will focus on several key use cases, including global payments and payroll, remittances, tokenized deposits for 24/7 settlement, embedded financial accounts, microtransactions, and agentic payments.

The new platform will operate independently with its own full-time team while maintaining connections to both founding organizations. Huang, who will continue his existing role leading Paradigm alongside Alana, will head Tempo.

“We believe Tempo will complement existing crypto infrastructure and be a conduit for many large enterprises to come onchain, increasing adoption of crypto tools and infrastructure,” Huang said.

Stripe is not the only company interested in creating a blockchain focused on stablecoins. Circle, following its blockbuster IPO, revealed Arc, a layer 1 network for stablecoin finance. The company aims for a debut this fall.