According to PYMNTS.com, Stripe and venture firm Paradigm have opened their Tempo blockchain project to the public as of Tuesday, December 9. The network is now available to any company that wants to develop real-world applications for stablecoin payments. The project, first announced in September, is explicitly designed as a “payments-first blockchain” and is led by Paradigm’s co-founder Matt Huang. Its latest partners include major financial institutions like UBS and Cross River Bank, as well as AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic, joining earlier backers such as Deutsche Bank and Nubank. This move comes amid a surge in stablecoin interest, partly fueled by new stablecoin legislation passed earlier this year that creates a regulatory framework. The immediate goal, as stated by Huang, is to close the “developer experience gap” for builders focused on payments rather than crypto trading.
The payments-first pitch
Here’s the thing: Tempo’s core argument makes a lot of sense. Most blockchains, especially the big ones, are optimized for trading and speculation. That’s where the fees and activity are. But if you want to actually use crypto for something like payroll or remittances, you need a network built for speed, low cost, and reliability from the ground up. That’s Tempo’s play. They’re not trying to be the next Ethereum for DeFi degens; they want to be the plumbing for stablecoin transactions. And with backers like Stripe—a company that knows a thing or two about online payments—and serious banks, they’ve got credibility. Matt Huang, the project lead, talks about tackling global payments, 24/7 settlement, and microtransactions. On paper, it’s a compelling vision for moving money without the traditional banking rails.
Navigating a messy history
But let’s not forget the context. The report itself points out that stablecoins “did not emerge from an elegant theory of money.” They came from necessity in the crypto world, and their path has been “messy, improvised and at times catastrophic.” We’ve seen spectacular failures, like Terra/Luna, and regulatory crackdowns. The new legislation helps, but it’s just the starting line. Now, companies like Stripe and banks like Deutsche Bank and UBS are racing to define what a “digital dollar for the internet” should be. Tempo has to balance all the classic trade-offs: speed versus safety, decentralization versus efficiency, innovation versus regulation. Getting a Brazilian neobank like Nubank or a prediction market like Kalshi on board is one thing. Getting mainstream businesses and consumers to trust and use it is a whole other battle.
The real challenge: adoption
So, will it work? The developer experience gap is real. Crypto is intimidating. If Tempo can genuinely make it as easy as integrating a Stripe API to move stablecoins, that’s a huge win. But the bigger question is: what’s the killer app? We have a lot of infrastructure being built, but the everyday use case for the average person or business is still fuzzy. Remittances? Maybe. Payroll? Possibly, but that’s a huge regulatory and operational lift. The involvement of AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic is fascinating—maybe they see a future where AI agents need to make micro-payments autonomously. That’s a futuristic use case, but it’s not moving the needle today. Basically, Tempo is building a really nice highway. Now they need to convince everyone there’s a compelling reason to drive on it, and that the road won’t collapse beneath them.
