- Stripe and Paradigm launch Tempo, a new L1 blockchain focused entirely on stablecoin payments and financial applications.
- Tempo’s development is backed by major firms like Visa, Shopify, and OpenAI, providing substantial institutional support.
Stripe and the investment firm Paradigm have introduced a new blockchain called Tempo. Matt Huang, who started Paradigm, described Tempo as a payment system built on blockchain technology. The project received backing from a large group of companies, including Stripe, Anthropic, and Visa.
This development occurs as stablecoins gain more acceptance following new U.S. legislation known as the GENIUS Act. Other companies, including Tether and Circle, are also developing their own blockchains for payments.
Tempo is designed to process over 100 transactions each second. Its fees will be low and consistent. Users will have the option to keep transactions private. The system will also work with other major blockchain networks. A feature for tokenizing real-world assets will be available at all times.
Huang stated that Tempo is being developed with a focus on decentralization and neutrality. It will not favor any specific stablecoin. Users can pay transaction fees using different regulated stablecoins. The chain will include tools for payments and compliance, such as an asset freezing function.
Why Stripe’s New Blockchain Is Bearish For Ethereum
Stripe has introduced a new blockchain called Tempo, developed in partnership with Paradigm. This system is a layer-one network designed primarily for payments. It will use stablecoins for transaction fees instead of a native cryptocurrency. The announcement clarifies that Tempo will operate as an independent blockchain and not as a layer-two solution on Ethereum.
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
Patrick Collison, the CEO of Stripe, explained the reasoning behind building a separate network. He stated that current blockchains are not suited for the volume of stablecoin transactions processed by Stripe. He identified low transaction throughput and complex user experiences as central problems. Collison said Tempo is built for large-scale financial applications that require fees in a familiar, stable currency.
The beginning of the end for L2s https://t.co/pX6XNv1Npg
— Tushar Jain (@TusharJain_) September 4, 2025
The network aims to support a range of financial activities
These include cross-border payments, remittances, and microtransactions. It also plans to facilitate operations for autonomous AI agents and tokenized deposits. This scope places Tempo in direct competition with the scaling objectives of Ethereum and its layer-two networks.
The guys with the biggest ETH bags are literally building their own L1, & people still think Ethereum being the “settlement layer for the internet of value” is a coherent idea
— Jon Charbonneau 🇺🇸 (@jon_charb) September 4, 2025
The response from sections of the crypto investment community was swift. Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital described the news as a negative development for Ethereum layer-two projects. Investor Jon Charbonneau noted the irony of large Ethereum holders supporting a competing layer-one blockchain.
Details on TEMPO just dropped:
Very much not positioned as a "Stripe" chain
Core principles of decentralization and neutrality.
– Pay gas in any stablecoin
– welcoming of tokenized deposits
– Independent and diverse validator set
– eventually fully permissionlessBuilt for… https://t.co/CeMBvYewMX pic.twitter.com/ZZgcdLnRh9
— Chuk (@chuk_xyz) September 4, 2025
A product lead from Paxos, a stablecoin issuer, pointed to Tempo’s structure and partnership group as strengths. He cited Stripe’s existing market reach as a powerful tool for overcoming the initial challenges of launching a new network. Following the news, market sentiment around Ethereum recorded a slight decrease.
