Seizing the Stablecoin Track: Stripe and Paradigm Bet on Tempo

Deng Tong, Golden Finance

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, payments giant Stripe is accelerating its development of Tempo, a new blockchain project, and has appointed Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of the crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, as Tempo's first CEO. Huang is also a member of Stripe's board of directors and will continue to serve as managing partner of Paradigm. What is Tempo? What can Stripe and Paradigm bring to Tempo? Why are these two giants so invested in Tempo?

1. What is Tempo?

Tempo, developed in collaboration between fintech giant Stripe and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, is an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible Layer 1 public blockchain. Using the same programming language as Ethereum, developers can directly migrate existing smart contracts, lowering the technical barrier to entry. It is designed to support high-frequency, low-latency payment transactions, with a particular focus on real-time settlement of stablecoins and cross-border payment scenarios. It aims to bypass traditional intermediaries like Visa and Mastercard through blockchain technology, significantly reducing transaction costs and improving efficiency. The project is currently under development with a five-person team. It is unclear whether the project will issue its own native token. What can Stripe and Paradigm bring to Tempo? Stripe and Paradigm collaborated to develop Tempo. Stripe's valuation has grown to nearly $92 billion thanks to payment products such as convenient online checkout and automated invoicing for businesses. In recent years, Stripe has set its sights on the cryptocurrency sector. In October 2024, Stripe acquired Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company, for $1.1 billion. Bridge supports businesses in issuing and managing stablecoins, and Tempo directly integrates into this system, enabling stablecoin circulation and settlement on-chain. In June 2025, Stripe acquired Privy, a developer of embedded crypto wallets, allowing users to quickly create wallets via email or social media accounts. Tempo and Privy have been deeply integrated to create a closed "wallet-chain-payment" loop. In the future, users will be able to pay merchants with stablecoins directly through their Stripe wallets, with transactions completed entirely on Tempo. Stripe provides Tempo with its global merchant network, payment risk control systems, and compliance capabilities, enabling Tempo to quickly onboard a large number of enterprise users. Paradigm, co-founded by former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang and Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, is a leading cryptocurrency venture capital firm. As of 2024, the company managed $12.7 billion in assets and invested in leading projects, including the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap, the prediction market Kalshi, and the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Fireblocks. Paradigm has a history of incubating its own projects, such as Tempo, including the Ethereum development toolkit Foundry and the open-source crypto bot Artemis. Paradigm's expertise and extensive industry resources will be leveraged towards Tempo, fueling its rapid growth.

Third, why are these two giant companies so focused on Tempo?

The answer is that Tempo can help Stripe and Paradigm win the stablecoin market.

In July 2025, the United States passed the GENIUS Act, providing a clearer legal framework for stablecoin regulation, removing the regulatory vacuum for stablecoin payments. Major players, observing regulatory trends, have jumped into the stablecoin race.

Third, Stripe is betting on this stablecoin race through Tempo. The launch of Tempo marks Stripe's official transition from a payment intermediary to a foundational builder of blockchain technology. By controlling stablecoin issuance (Bridge), wallet access (Privy), and transaction settlement (Tempo), Stripe will form a complete payment ecosystem, fundamentally transforming the traditional payment process. Direct control over stablecoin issuance, wallet access, and transaction settlement will allow Stripe to reduce its reliance on traditional banking networks and third-party payment clearinghouses, thereby reducing operating costs. Tempo also supports high-frequency, low-latency payment transactions, as well as real-time settlement of stablecoins and cross-border payments. This will significantly enhance the user payment experience, attract more merchants and consumers to its payment services, and consolidate and expand its market share. Furthermore, Stripe's user base is broad, encompassing a wide range of businesses and individuals. The launch of Tempo will provide these users with more innovative payment solutions, meeting payment needs in diverse scenarios and further enhancing user engagement. While Paradigm is a top venture capital firm in the crypto industry, it still needs to accumulate experience building its own blockchain projects. Tempo is a promising example. Tempo isn't a short-term hype project, but rather a long-term enterprise-grade payment network. Tempo not only handles retail transfers but also provides payment infrastructure for specialized clients. This strategy aligns with Paradigm's long-term value investment strategy. If Tempo's success is successful, Paradigm will attract more companies similar to Tempo to collaborate with it. This partnership with payment giant Stripe will further consolidate its investment resources and influence in the blockchain world. Appendix IV: Who is Matt Huang? Matt Huang graduated from MIT with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 2010. He also founded Hotspots, a social media data analysis and trend forecasting company, which received Y Combinator funding and was acquired by Twitter in 2012. From 2014 to 2018, Huang worked as a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he began investing in cryptocurrency. In 2018, he co-founded Paradigm, an investment firm focused on crypto and blockchain, with Fred Ehrsam. Matt Huang possesses a unique investment vision, having invested in startups including ByteDance, Instacart, Amplitude, Benchling, and PlanGrid. As a co-founder of Paradigm, his extensive crypto industry resources accumulated over the years will provide maximum support for Tempo. Furthermore, because Matt Huang serves on the Stripe board and was Tempo's first CEO, the three companies are closely aligned through him, fostering collaboration and accelerating the implementation of the Tempo project.