The launch makes Klarna the first bank to launch a stablecoin on Tempo, an independent blockchain started by the US payments giant Stripe and the crypto payments platform Paradigm.
“With 114 million customers and $112 billion in annual GMV [Gross Merchandise Value], Klarna has the scale to change payments globally," Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna, said in a press release.
“Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale. This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto, and I’m excited to work with Stripe and Tempo to continue to shape the future of payments.”
KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by Bridge, a leading stablecoin infrastructure platform and Stripe company, and will launch on Tempo’s mainnet in 2026.
While the stablecoin is already live on the platform's testing site, it is not yet publicly available as Klarna aims to carry out advanced testing, prototyping, and integration, before rolling the stablecoin out to customers.
Siemiatkowski has long been a sceptic about cryptocurrency, criticising the industry as a “decentralised Ponzi scheme” and saying that he was “nervous that a lot of people will come late into the party and lose a lot of money.”
However, in February, he signalled that Klarna was developing it's own plans for a crypto venture, following in the footsteps of rivals like Revolut and Paypal.
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