Payments company Klarna has launched a stablecoin, becoming the first digital bank to issue a token on Tempo, the new layer-1 blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the new stablecoin is pegged to the US dollar and is currently live on Tempo’s testnet, with an upcoming mainnet launch set for 2026.
Called KlarnaUSD, the stablecoin was built by Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider also owned by Stripe. The move expands Klarna’s long-standing payments partnership with Stripe across its 26 global markets.
“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,” said the company’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
Klarna is a Swedish fintech specializing in online checkout, payments, and short-term consumer credit. The company is popular for its buy now, pay later (BNPL) services.
A Klarna spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company is only beginning to explore stablecoin technology, with an initial focus on “internal uses,” including “reducing the cost of international payments within Klarna.” There are currently no plans to integrate stablecoins into Klarna’s installment-payment services.
Related: South Korea stablecoin framework stalls as regulators split over banks’ role
The year of stablecoins
The GENIUS Act, passed in the United States in July, established clear rules for stablecoins and has helped fuel a wave of new issuances.
In August, self-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask announced the launch of a stablecoin issued by Bridge and powered by liquidity platform M0. The token, mUSD, launched in September and currently has a market capitalization of $844 million.
In October, Western Union said it would use Solana to power a new stablecoin settlement system built around its US Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) and a Digital Asset Network developed with Anchorage Digital Bank. The token is slated to launch in the first half of 2026.
Amid rising competition from stablecoin issuers, traditional payment companies are also getting involved. In July, Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement network by adding support for the Global Dollar (USDG) token and enabling transactions across Stellar and Avalanche.
The broader stablecoin market now stands at roughly $304 billion, led by Tether’s (USDT) at about $184 billion and Circle’s (USDC) at around $74.3 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
Magazine: Sunny Lu: Getting scammed for 100 Bitcoin led him to create VeChain
