New Stablecoin Blockchain Tempo Launches Public Testnet

Stripe and Paradigm's joint blockchain project Tempo has launched its first public testnet, marking a significant advancement in stablecoin technology. The open-source testnet is now live, allowing anyone to run a node or sync the chain and test various features.

Tempo's announcement highlighted six key features currently available on the network, including dedicated payment lanes, stablecoin-native gas, a built-in stable asset decentralized exchange, payments and transfers metadata, fast deterministic finality, and modern wallet signing methods.

Tempo aims to deliver instant, deterministic settlement with predictably low fees and a stablecoin-native experience, which are qualities that many general-purpose blockchains struggle to provide for financial applications.

In an X post following the launch, Paradigm's general partner and CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos underscored a feature that allows Tempo testnet users to create stablecoins directly from their browsers, utilizing Tempo's TIP-20 token standard.

However, specific liquidity and collateral requirements for the actual blockchain launch have not been detailed in the testnet documentation. This testnet launch follows the unveiling of Tempo four months ago and the subsequent $500 million funding round at a $5 billion valuation three months ago.

Tempo has garnered significant support from design partners such as OpenAI, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Shopify, Mastercard, UBS, Kalshi, and Klarna. Notably, Klarna has recently rolled out a USD-pegged stablecoin on Tempo, becoming the first digital bank on the network to do so.