Tempo, the highly anticipated payments-focused blockchain, officially launched its public testnet today, inviting developers and businesses worldwide to build and test real-world payment applications on a network purpose-built for speed, predictability, and stablecoin-native economics.

Since revealing the project in September, Tempo has rapidly evolved from concept to a fully functioning network now being validated by many of the world’s largest financial institutions and technology companies. The growing list of design partners includes Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, Visa, and more recently Brex, Coastal Community Bank, Cross River, Deel, Faire, Figure, Gusto, Kalshi, Klarna, Mastercard, Payoneer, Persona, Ramp, and UBS.

Key Features Now Live on Testnet

• Dedicated Payment Lanes – Payments receive guaranteed blockspace at the protocol level, shielding them from congestion caused by NFT mints, liquidations, or high-frequency trading. Target fee: one-tenth of a cent per transaction, remaining stable even during network spikes.
• Stablecoin-Native Gas – Transaction fees can be paid directly in USD-pegged stablecoins (USDC, USDT, etc.), eliminating exposure to volatile gas tokens and simplifying accounting for payment processors and custodians.
• Built-in Stable Asset DEX – A native decentralized exchange optimized for stablecoins and tokenized deposits automatically converts between different USD stablecoins for fee payments and cross-stablecoin transfers, consolidating liquidity in one protocol-level system.
• Rich Payment Metadata – Structured memo fields for invoice numbers, cost centers, and references to off-chain data via hashed commitments, enabling seamless reconciliation with existing ERP, treasury, and accounting systems.
• Sub-Second Deterministic Finality – Powered by Byzantine-fault-tolerant consensus with four validators, blocks finalize in ~500 milliseconds with irreversible settlement guarantees—matching the certainty of traditional financial rails at blockchain speed.
• Modern Wallet Experience – Native support for gas sponsorship, batched transactions, scheduled payments, and passkey authentication, reducing the need for custom middleware.

With backing from both traditional finance giants (Visa, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, UBS) and leading technology companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Shopify, DoorDash), Tempo positions itself as the first blockchain explicitly designed to power the next generation of internet-native payments—fast, cheap, and as reliable as the traditional systems it aims to upgrade.

Developers can start building on the Tempo testnet today at tempo.xyz.