COMPANY detail

TEMPO
The blockchain for payments at scale

/

TEMPO
Company Overview.
Year Founded 2025
Status Private
Specialties Blockchain, Payments, Stablecoin Infrastructure
Company Size 11-50 Employees
Industry Technology, Information and Internet
Location San Francisco, USA
Description.

Tempo is a purpose-built, Layer 1 blockchain for payments, developed in partnership with leading fintechs and Fortune 500s. Incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, Tempo enables high-throughput, low-cost global transactions for any use case. The blockchain supports all major stablecoins and is designed for real-world payment applications including remittances, global payouts, payroll, and embedded finance. Built on Reth (Rust Ethereum client) and EVM-compatible, Tempo offers 10,000+ TPS with sub-second finality, making it one of the most performant payment-focused blockchains.

The project was announced in September 2025 by Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, who recognized that existing blockchains were optimized for trading rather than payments. Tempo addresses this gap with predictable low fees, opt-in privacy controls, and a built-in stablecoin AMM ensuring platform neutrality. With design partners including Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, OpenAI, and Anthropic, Tempo has raised $500M in Series A funding at a $5B valuation, making it one of the largest blockchain ventures in recent years. The testnet launched in December 2025 with a roadmap toward mainnet and permissionless validators

Key Infrastructure.
Payments-First L1 Purpose-built blockchain optimized for high-throughput payments with 10K+ TPS and sub-second finality
Predictable Low Fees Low-cost transaction pricing optimized for payment use cases rather than trading
Stablecoin Native Built-in stablecoin support with enshrined AMM allowing payments and gas fees in any stablecoin
Privacy Controls Opt-in privacy features for transaction data visibility
EVM Compatibility Ethereum-compatible blockchain built on Reth, enabling easy porting of existing EVM dApps
Payments UX Dedicated payments lane with memos, access lists, and other payment-specific features
Additional Features.
Design Partners
Strong lineup including Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, OpenAI, Anthropic
Payroll
Stablecoin-based payroll solution for global workforce payments
Scalability
Capable of 100K+ TPS for high-volume payment processing
Remittances
Fast and cheap cross-border money transfers for individuals and businesses
Global Payouts
Support for instant, low-cost cross-border payouts to employees and contractors
Embedded Finance
Platform for embedding payment flows directly into applications

GENERAL Questions.

What does this company do?
Tempo is a Layer 1 blockchain optimized for payments, built in partnership with Stripe and Paradigm. It provides high-throughput, low-cost transaction processing for stablecoin payments including remittances, payroll, global payouts, and embedded finance.
Who are their main clients?
Tempo's design partners include major enterprises: Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, OpenAI, Anthropic, DoorDash, Mercury, Standard Chartered, and more.
Are they licensed?
Tempo is a blockchain infrastructure provider, not a financial services company. No specific licensing applies to the protocol layer.
What blockchains/stablecoins supported?
Tempo is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 built on Reth. It supports all major stablecoins with a built-in AMM for platform neutrality.