Purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain for payments, incubated by Paradigm and Stripe with design input from Anthropic, Visa, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Shopify, DoorDash, Brex, and Revolut. Uses stablecoin-native gas (users pay fees in USD stablecoins, not a volatile token) and is optimized for high-throughput, low-cost global payments — remittances, payroll, embedded finance, microtransactions, agentic commerce, and tokenized deposits. Early phase as of mid-2026; production status is partner-gated.
- 01stablecoin-denominated payments and remittances
- 02embedded finance flows that need predictable, fiat-stable fees
- 03agentic / machine-to-machine micropayments
- 04tokenized deposits and bank-issued stablecoin rails
- 05payroll, payouts, and merchant settlement
- pnpm add viem wagmi
- # Tempo is partner-gated as of mid-2026 — request access via tempo.xyz before integration work.
| Variable | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NEXT_PUBLIC_TEMPO_RPC_URL | Client | Tempo RPC URL — partner-provisioned. There is no public RPC during early phases; obtain one through the Tempo partner program. |
| NEXT_PUBLIC_TEMPO_CHAIN_ID | Client | Tempo chain ID — confirm per environment from the Tempo partner dashboard. Subject to change during testnet phases. |
| TEMPO_API_KEY | Server | Tempo partner API key for paymaster, KYC, and stablecoin-issuance endpoints (where applicable). Server-only. |
Tempo is EVM-compatible with stablecoin-native gas, so define a custom chain with viem: `defineChain({ id: TEMPO_CHAIN_ID, name: 'Tempo', nativeCurrency: { name: 'USD Stablecoin', symbol: 'USD', decimals: 6 }, rpcUrls: { default: { http: [TEMPO_RPC_URL] } } })`. Fee math is in 6-decimal stablecoin units, not 18-decimal ETH — every gas estimation and balance display must use the correct decimal scaling. Until Tempo publishes public SDKs, target it as a generic EVM chain via viem/wagmi and call only the contracts your partner onboarding kit provides. For consumer flows, treat Tempo as a settlement layer behind a familiar fiat-style UX — the value-prop is that users see USD-denominated fees, not gas tokens.
- ⚑Tempo is partner-gated and early-phase as of mid-2026 — there is no public testnet onboarding. Building anything user-facing requires Tempo + Stripe partnership.
- ⚑Stablecoin-native gas means `nativeCurrency.decimals` is 6, not 18 — naive viem/wagmi defaults will misformat balances and fee estimates by 10^12.
- ⚑Tempo is positioned as a payments chain, not general-purpose DeFi — composability with mainstream EVM DeFi protocols (Aave, Uniswap, etc.) is NOT a given; verify each integration's Tempo deployment before assuming.
- ⚑Bridging assets in/out of Tempo will rely on partner-operated rails initially; do not expect Across/Stargate/LayerZero coverage at launch.
- ⚑Indexing/explorer coverage will be limited at launch — confirm Etherscan, Tenderly, Alchemy, Dune support before depending on it.
- ⚑Compliance posture (KYC, sanctions screening) is enforced at the chain/partner level — your dApp must surface KYC failures gracefully rather than treating them as generic tx reverts.