Main Points：
- Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge enabled stablecoin payments from 70 to 120 countries within weeks.
- Large enterprises like Remitly, Shopify, Remote, SpaceX, and DolarApp are adopting stablecoin rails for cross-border transfers and payroll.
- Bridge powers Stripe’s Stablecoin Financial Accounts, facilitating seamless settlement and treasury operations.
- Stripe and Paradigm have launched Tempo, a high-speed, payment-first Layer-1 blockchain delivering 100,000 TPS, sub-second finality, and stablecoin-native fee mechanics.
- Tempo’s design partners include OpenAI, Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, Anthropic, and more.
- Stripe sees stablecoins as a superior, regulated, programmable infrastructure compared to traditional rails for remittances, microtransactions, payroll, and AI-driven payments.
- Tempo operates independently with multi-stakeholder governance, aiming to be a “decentralized, internet-scale SWIFT” behind the scenes.
1. Global Adoption Through Bridge
Stripe’s acquisition of the stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge in early 2025 significantly accelerated its crypto ambitions. Bridge enables Stripe to abstract away blockchain complexity and treat stablecoins as invisible infrastructure—much like card rails—for developers and businesses. Within the first week of launching stablecoin payments, Stripe saw transactions from 70 countries, a number that soon grew to 120.
Major clients such as Remitly leveraged Bridge to begin USDC international transfers, while Remote rolled out USDC payroll to contractors in 68 countries, with monthly user counts doubling.
2. Stripe’s Stablecoin Financial Accounts
Following Bridge’s acquisition, Stripe introduced Stablecoin Financial Accounts, a global cash-and-crypto hybrid solution supporting over 100 countries. Through these accounts, businesses can receive, hold, and disburse funds in both fiat and stablecoins, all from their Stripe dashboard—without needing specialized crypto expertise. This simplicity enables seamless treasury operations and cross-border payouts.
3. Tempo: A New Blockchain Built for Payments
On September 4, 2025, Stripe and Paradigm revealed Tempo, a purpose-built Layer-1 blockchain designed exclusively for high-volume stablecoin payments.
Key Technical Specifications:
- 100,000 transactions per second (TPS)
- Sub-second finality
- Gas fees payable in any stablecoin, enabled via an onboard automated market maker — removing the need for native chain tokens .
- EVM-compatible, built atop Reth for compatibility with existing Ethereum tools.
Strategic Structure:
Tempo is incubated as an independent entity, co-led by Stripe and Paradigm, and is structured to transition eventually to permissionless validation and neutral governance.
Founding Design Partners:
This strategic initiative includes input from OpenAI, Anthropic, Visa, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, DoorDash, Standard Chartered, and others.
4. Why Businesses Are Turning to Stablecoins & Tempo
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison elaborated that businesses adopt stablecoins not because of speculation, but because they offer faster, cheaper, more reliable cross-border financial operations. He cited real cases like SpaceX, DolarApp, and an Argentinian importer using Bridge-powered stablecoin payments for operational efficiency.
Collison emphasized that Tempo will function behind the scenes, akin to a payments messaging network like SWIFT or ACH. Though consumers won’t interact directly with Tempo, its infrastructure will promise high-scale automatic settlement rails.
Five key benefits he highlighted:
- Near-instant settlement reducing trapped liquidity.
- Lower costs than card or traditional rails.
- Reliability in cross-border transfers.
- Fewer currency conversions.
- On-chain access to USD within regulated frameworks in the U.S. (GENIUS Act) and Europe (MiCA).
5. Bridging Crypto & Traditional Finance
As the stablecoin market grows—reaching over $270 billion, with projections toward a trillion-dollar industry—Tempo joins an increasing roster of stablecoin-first blockchains aimed at transforming global payments.
Bridge functions as the settlement layer hidden within Stripe’s financial infrastructure, powering Visa-backed card disbursements and compliance from the ground up. It abstracts custody, conversion, compliance, and settlement via APIs, making stablecoins an invisible but potent infrastructure layer.
Conclusion
Stripe’s rapid foray into stablecoin infrastructure—through Bridge and now with Tempo—signals a transformative shift in how payments, remittances, payroll, and microtransactions can scale globally. For innovators, businesses, and blockchain entrepreneurs eyeing new tokens or real-world crypto utility, this is a pivotal moment: programmable money is being industrialized, integrated, and made enterprise-ready.
