Tempo

Tempo is a Layer-1 blockchain specifically designed for high-volume, real-world payment applications, with a primary focus on stablecoin transactions. The project was officially announced on September 4, 2025, as an independent company jointly incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto investment firm Paradigm. Tempo is led by Matt Huang, co-founder and Managing Partner of Paradigm.

The platform was created to address the limitations of general-purpose blockchains, which are often not optimized for the high-throughput, low-latency, and predictable low fees required for large-scale payment systems. Tempo aims to provide a dedicated infrastructure for use cases like global payments, remittances, payroll, tokenized deposits, and microtransactions. It is built on Paradigm's high-performance Ethereum client, "Reth," is EVM-compatible, and is engineered to process over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) with sub-second finality. A key feature is the ability for users to pay transaction fees in any major stablecoin through an enshrined automated market maker (AMM), removing the need for a native gas token.

As of September 2025, Tempo is operating on a private testnet. The company is developing the platform with input from a high-profile group of design partners across financial services, e-commerce, and AI, including Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, DoorDash, and OpenAI. The business model is centered on providing a reliable, low-cost ledger for the increasing volume of on-chain stablecoin payments, integrating with Stripe's existing financial infrastructure to offer a full-stack solution for merchants and businesses.

Keywords: Layer-1 blockchain, stablecoin payments, high-throughput transactions, payment infrastructure, crypto payments, EVM-compatible, real-world payments, global payouts, remittances, tokenized deposits, microtransactions, embedded finance, Stripe, Paradigm, Matt Huang, Reth, stablecoin gas fees, low-latency payments, financial technology, decentralized finance