{"investigation":{"slug":"tempo","entity_name":"Tempo","trust_score":78,"severity_base":null,"score_modifier":0,"confidence":0.6,"status":"published","content_type":"investigation","summary":"Tempo is an Ethereum-compatible, payments-focused layer 1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, with mainnet live since 18 March 2026 per its own FAQ. Its validator set is curated and the network is described as moving toward permissionless validation. No security incidents, exploits, enforcement actions or lawsuits involving Tempo were found in research; this reflects an absence of search results, not a security audit.","sections":[{"content":"Tempo is described as a layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin payments, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm. It was announced in September 2025, launched a public testnet in December 2025, and per Tempo's FAQ 'Tempo Mainnet has been live since March 18, 2026' (chain ID 4217). Tempo's website states that Tempo is 'now Stripe's default blockchain for new features', a quote attributed to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. Fees are paid in stablecoins through a built-in fee mechanism rather than a volatile native token, per secondary coverage.","heading":"Overview and launch history","sources":[{"url":"https://tempo.xyz/faq","name":"Tempo FAQ","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://tempo.xyz","name":"Tempo homepage","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/stripe-blockchain-tempo-launches-public-testnet","name":"Cointelegraph: Stripe blockchain Tempo launches public testnet","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.bankless.com/es/read/news/stripe-deploys-tempo-blockchain-to-mainnet-introduces-machine-payments-protocol.md","name":"Bankless: Stripe deploys Tempo to mainnet","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"In October 2025 Tempo was reported to have raised a $500 million Series A at a roughly $5 billion valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks with participation from Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital and SV Angel. The reports rely on anonymous sources and were not confirmed by the company in the material reviewed, so the figures should be treated as reported. Blockworks reported that Stripe and Paradigm did not contribute capital to this round.","heading":"Funding and valuation (reported)","sources":[{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/375152/stripe-tempo-500-million-series-a-thrive","name":"The Block: Tempo raises $500M Series A at $5B valuation (report)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.blockworks.co/news/tempo-series-a-raise","name":"Blockworks: Tempo blockchain raises $500M in Series A round","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/blockchains/stripe-backed-tempo-blockchain-raises-usd500-million-in-series-a","name":"The Defiant: Stripe-backed Tempo raises $500M","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Tempo's FAQ states that current validators include MoneyGram, Stripe, Visa, and Zodia Custody by Standard Chartered, and describes 'a path towards permissionless validation'. Visa, Stripe and Zodia Custody were announced as the first external validators in April 2026; MoneyGram was named anchor remittance validator in May 2026. A small set of corporate validators implies concentration of control and counterparty/governance dependence on those institutions until validation is opened. The requester's claim that zerohash is a validator could not be verified in any source and is omitted.","heading":"Validator set and decentralization","sources":[{"url":"https://tempo.xyz/faq","name":"Tempo FAQ","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://theblock.co/post/397286/visa-stripe-zodia-custody-standard-chartered-validators-tempo","name":"The Block: Visa, Stripe and Zodia Custody become validators on Tempo","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://tempo.xyz/blog/moneygram-joins-tempo-as-first-remittance-validator-and-settlement-partner","name":"Tempo blog: MoneyGram joins Tempo as first remittance validator","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://theblock.co/post/402043/moneygram-remittance-validator-stripe-tempo-blockchain","name":"The Block: MoneyGram named anchor remittance validator","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Tempo's website self-reports '$36+ billion' annualized stablecoin payment volume and '$700+ million' in stablecoin and tokenized asset value; these are unaudited company claims. DefiLlama showed Tempo TVL of about $106 million when checked on 13 October 2026 (the requester recorded about $81.9M on 7 October, so the figure is moving). DefiLlama's stablecoin series showed about $733 million circulating as of 12 October 2026 (requester recorded about $757M on 7 October). Values change daily and differ between sources.","heading":"On-chain metrics and self-reported volume","sources":[{"url":"https://tempo.xyz","name":"Tempo homepage","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://api.llama.fi/v2/chains","name":"DefiLlama chains API","type":"on_chain","credibility":2},{"url":"https://stablecoins.llama.fi/stablecoincharts/Tempo","name":"DefiLlama stablecoins API (Tempo)","type":"on_chain","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Searches for Tempo exploits, hacks, vulnerabilities, outages, lawsuits and regulatory actions returned no results concerning the Tempo blockchain. No incidents on Tempo were confirmed in research. This is an absence of evidence in web search, not an audit or assurance of security. Throughput and finality figures cited in 2025 coverage were design targets rather than verified live results.","heading":"Incidents, enforcement and legal actions","sources":[{"url":"https://everstake.one/resources/blog/what-is-tempo-stripe-and-paradigms-stablecoin-payments-blockchain-explained","name":"Everstake: What is Tempo","type":"research","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2025-09","event":"Stripe and Paradigm unveil Tempo, a payments-focused layer 1 blockchain.","source":"Tech.eu","source_url":"https://tech.eu/2025/09/05/stripe-teams-up-with-paradigm-on-blockchain-geared-for-stablecoin-payments/"},{"date":"2025-10","event":"Reported $500M Series A at about $5B valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks.","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/375152/stripe-tempo-500-million-series-a-thrive"},{"date":"2025-12","event":"Public testnet launched.","source":"Cointelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/stripe-blockchain-tempo-launches-public-testnet"},{"date":"2026-03-18","event":"Tempo mainnet live.","source":"Tempo FAQ","source_url":"https://tempo.xyz/faq","date_evidence":"Tempo Mainnet has been live since March 18, 2026."},{"date":"2026-04","event":"Visa, Stripe and Zodia Custody announced as first external validators.","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://theblock.co/post/397286/visa-stripe-zodia-custody-standard-chartered-validators-tempo"},{"date":"2026-05","event":"MoneyGram named anchor remittance validator.","source":"The Block","source_url":"https://theblock.co/post/402043/moneygram-remittance-validator-stripe-tempo-blockchain"}],"sources_used":[{"url":"https://tempo.xyz/faq","name":"Tempo FAQ","type":"official","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20261007144857/https://tempo.xyz/faq/","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-10-07T14:48:57+00:00"},{"url":"https://tempo.xyz","name":"Tempo homepage","type":"official","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20261010022824/https://tempo.xyz/","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-10-10T02:28:24+00:00"},{"url":"https://tech.eu/2025/09/05/stripe-teams-up-with-paradigm-on-blockchain-geared-for-stablecoin-payments/","name":"Tech.eu: Stripe teams up with Paradigm","type":"news_article","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260712030752/https://tech.eu/2025/09/05/stripe-teams-up-with-paradigm-on-blockchain-geared-for-stablecoin-payments/","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-07-12T03:07:52+00:00"},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/stripe-blockchain-tempo-launches-public-testnet","name":"Cointelegraph: Tempo public testnet","type":"news_article","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260119182627/https://cointelegraph.com/news/stripe-blockchain-tempo-launches-public-testnet","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-01-19T18:26:27+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.bankless.com/es/read/news/stripe-deploys-tempo-blockchain-to-mainnet-introduces-machine-payments-protocol.md","name":"Bankless: Tempo mainnet","type":"news_article","archive_url":null,"credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":null},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/375152/stripe-tempo-500-million-series-a-thrive","name":"The Block: Series A report","type":"news_article","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260729063503/https://www.theblock.co/post/375152/stripe-tempo-500-million-series-a-thrive","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-07-29T06:35:03+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.blockworks.co/news/tempo-series-a-raise","name":"Blockworks: Series 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