Tempo launches a stablecoin-based credit platform for business lending and consumer loans.
DeFi & Yields ·
Tempo, a payments-focused Layer 1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has launched a stablecoin-based credit platform serving business lending and consumer loan markets. The network targets institutional-scale settlement, designed with throughput, predictable pricing, and built-in compliance as core features rather than secondary additions. Major validators including Visa, Stripe, and Standard Chartered's Zodia Custody operate on the infrastructure.
The platform achieves over 100,000 transactions per second with sub-600-millisecond finality and transaction costs below one-tenth of a cent. It operates as an EVM-compatible chain where users pay network fees using stablecoins like USDC or USDT rather than a separate volatile native token—a design choice intended to reduce friction for enterprises unfamiliar with crypto infrastructure. Stripe has positioned the network as "AWS for money," specialized infrastructure that businesses integrate rather than build independently.
Early adoption includes a real-time Korean won stablecoin settlement completed between Coupang and Woori Bank, demonstrating end-to-end onchain payment flow from customer checkout through merchant settlement. The broader stablecoin market reached roughly $230 billion in supply by early 2026, with approximately $390 billion in on-chain settlement volume—scale at which general-purpose blockchain limitations create meaningful economic friction for financial institutions. It remains unclear how aggressively Tempo will capture market share or which additional payment corridors will prioritize the platform.