Quick Breakdown:
- Stripe and Paradigm launch Tempo — a payments-oriented Layer 1 blockchain optimized for stablecoin and financial services.
- High performance, designed to handle over 10,000 TPS, addressing scalability gaps in existing blockchains.
- Strong ecosystem support early design partners include Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, OpenAI, and Revolut.
Stripe has provided new details on Tempo, its payments-focused Layer 1 blockchain developed with venture capital firm Paradigm. The update follows an August 11 Fortune report that first revealed the project, and highlights Tempo’s role in scaling stablecoin and on-chain payments across Stripe’s global network.
Developed in partnership with venture firm Paradigm, Tempo aims to overcome the performance and cost limitations of existing blockchains by tailoring its infrastructure specifically for real-world payment use cases.
Unlike general-purpose blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which process roughly 5 and 20 transactions per second (TPS), respectively. Tempo is being engineered to handle payment volumes at Stripe’s scale, exceeding 10,000 TPS.
Introducing @Tempo.
At Stripe, we care about high-throughput, low-latency payments use cases. As the use of stablecoins (and crypto more broadly) grows across Stripe, Bridge, and Privy, we found that existing blockchains are not optimized for them.
For example, it’s valuable…
— Patrick Collison (@patrickc) September 4, 2025
Built for Real-World Payments
Tempo is designed to solve pain points that limit blockchain adoption in payments. Instead of denominating transaction fees in native crypto tokens, Tempo will allow fees in fiat-linked units to improve usability for mainstream users. The chain will also support batch transfers, making it easier for businesses to process payrolls, remittances, and other bulk payments more efficiently.
To support liquidity and neutrality, Tempo will include a built-in automated market maker (AMM) for stablecoins. This feature ensures businesses and consumers can transact seamlessly regardless of which stablecoin they hold. Stripe emphasized that Tempo will operate independently, with a diverse initial validator set and a roadmap toward full permissionless validation.
Strategic Partnerships and Vision
Tempo has already attracted a roster of heavyweight design partners, including Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, and Visa. These early collaborators will help shape Tempo’s infrastructure for global payouts, merchant payments, microtransactions, tokenized deposits, and next-generation agentic payments.
The independent Tempo team currently consists of 15 members and is led by Paradigm’s Matt Huang. Stripe and Paradigm are the project’s first backers, with plans to expand Tempo’s validator ecosystem and global adoption.
Stripe confirmed it will continue supporting multiple chains as part of its payments network, while positioning Tempo as the dedicated blockchain for scaling stablecoin-powered financial services.
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