Stripe and Paradigm incubate Tempo blockchain for stablecoin payments

Private testnet aims to deliver low-cost settlement with partners including Visa, Deutsche Bank, and OpenAI

by Blockworks /
article-image

Tada Images/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks

share

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang announced on Thursday that his firm and Stripe are incubating Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain designed to streamline stablecoin use in real-world financial flows.

Tempo has entered private testnet with support from initial design partners including Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, Visa, and more. The project represents Stripe’s most direct step into blockchain infrastructure, extending its payments business toward native onchain settlement.

Tempo is engineered to handle more than 100,000 transactions per second with sub-second finality, according to project materials. Its payments-first architecture enables transaction fees and gas to be paid in any stablecoin through an enshrined automated market maker (AMM).

Additional features include dedicated lanes for payments, support for memos and access lists, and opt-in privacy settings. Built on Reth, an Ethereum execution client, the chain maintains compatibility with existing Ethereum smart contracts and tooling.

Huang said Tempo is intended to support diverse financial applications such as payroll, remittances, global payouts, and embedded accounts. The protocol will follow a principle of “stablecoin neutrality,” allowing any issuer to deploy tokens for settlement. Validators will initially be curated but are expected to transition toward a permissionless model.

This is a developing story.


This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Report Cover.png

Research

Centrifuge has quietly become one of the fastest-growing players in RWA tokenization, with TVL surging from $78M in March to $1.14B today. Its partnerships with Janus Henderson, Apollo, and S&P Dow Jones Indices have positioned it at the center of institutional adoption, while its multi-chain vault framework unlocks access to treasuries, credit, and equities onchain. With new fund launches on the horizon, protocol fees now live, and liquidity set to improve through upcoming listings, Centrifuge offers investors asymmetric upside in one of crypto’s largest and fastest-growing narratives.

article-image

The company introduced a dollar-backed stablecoin to power instant payments and microtransactions for AI-driven web platforms

by Blockworks /
article-image

The plan is to make GameShift the “consumer portal” that bridges non-crypto gamers into Web3

article-image

Google backs $1.4B of obligations and takes 5.4% stake as Cipher expands AI data center footprint

by Blockworks /
article-image

Nine banks plan MiCA-regulated token to challenge dollar dominance and strengthen Europe’s payments autonomy

by Blockworks /
article-image

Sponsored

The FAIR L1 embeds encrypted execution into the consensus layer and removes the transparency window that makes MEV possible

by Sponsored /
article-image

Corporate crypto ownership can “lift up” blockchain ecosystems to help spur institutional adoption, SharpLink Gaming co-CEO says