A new blockchain, incubated by global payments firm Stripe and crypto firm Paradigm, has gone public with its testnet, opening the network for developers, businesses, and institutions to begin building payment, remittance, and stablecoin-native applications.
Tempo is designed as a purpose-built, payments-first layer-1 blockchain, not just another general-purpose chain. Its architecture prioritises speed, reliability, and stablecoins as a native medium: transactions finalise in under a second, network throughput targets over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), and fees and gas payments can be settled in stablecoins rather than volatile crypto tokens.
What sets Tempo apart is its stablecoin-native infrastructure and payments-oriented design. It includes dedicated payment lanes, built-in stable-asset exchange functionality (a native decentralised exchange or DEX for stablecoins), and support for payment metadata, features that aim to align blockchain payments more closely with traditional finance workflows such as payroll, cross-border payments, global payouts and remittances.
Since the testnet launch, Tempo has attracted a broad group of early “design partners” spanning fintech, banking, e-commerce, and AI, including major names such as Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, OpenAI, and many more. This signals strong institutional interest in the chain’s promise of stablecoin-native, enterprise-ready payments infrastructure.
Financial confidence in Tempo is already high. Recently, the project concluded a Series A funding round that raised US$500 million, valuing the network at around US$5 billion. The backing underscores investor conviction that there’s a growing need for a blockchain layer optimised for stablecoin and payment use, bridging traditional finance rails and crypto-native settlement.
Tempo aims to offer real-world utility by supporting global payouts, payroll, remittances, microtransactions, and tokenised deposits for 24/7 settlement and embedded financial accounts, effectively transforming how money moves across borders and systems using blockchain.
As the public testnet rolls out, all eyes now turn to how quickly real-world applications will emerge, and whether Tempo can deliver scalable stablecoin-based payment rails that remain compliant, efficient, and stable under load.
