Klarna Has Minted Its Own Stablecoin. Are The Payments Wars About to Get Interesting?
KlarnaUSD lands on Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo chain as the $27 trillion stablecoin boom goes mainstream
Klarna has thrown its hat into the crypto ring.
The company has launched KlarnaUSD, its first stablecoin, marking a decisive shift for a business better known for buy-now-pay-later shopping than blockchain infrastructure.
The token is live today on the Tempo testnet, with a full mainnet release pencilled in for 2026.
Tempo is not just another chain. It is a new payments-focused blockchain built by Stripe and Paradigm, designed to do one thing aggressively well: move money.
Klarna says it is the first bank to issue a stablecoin on the network. It is betting big on a future where crypto rails handle more payment volume than legacy networks.
The company points to McKinsey estimates that stablecoin transactions already top $27 trillion a year, a figure large enough to make Visa and Mastercard flinch. Klarna argues that cross-border payments alone generate about $120 billion in annual fees, a pile of friction it believes Tempo can help erase.
With 114 million customers and $118 billion in yearly gross merchandise volume, chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski says the company has the scale to make a serious dent. Crypto, he says, is finally fast, cheap and secure enough to be used at global scale.
KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by Bridge, a Stripe-owned platform for stablecoin infrastructure. For now the coin stays locked on Tempo’s testnet, giving partners a sandbox for prototyping and integration.
Nothing is publicly tradable yet, which Klarna stresses is intentional. Official updates will arrive once the token is ready for consumers, and another partner announcement is on the way.
The rollout deepens Klarna’s existing ties with Stripe, which already powers payments across all 26 Klarna markets. It also signals the start of a broader crypto strategy.
Klarna calls this the beginning of its public initiatives in the sector, framing stablecoins as a way to challenge entrenched networks and pull consumer payments into a faster and cheaper era.
The company adds the usual caveats. Its statement contains forward-looking predictions about performance, strategy, execution and regulation.
Klarna says these depend on a long list of risks, from competition and technology shifts to economic conditions and funding. Actual results may diverge sharply, and the company directs investors to its SEC filings for the full risk roster.
Still, the direction is unmistakable. Klarna is no longer just building checkout widgets. It is trying to reinvent the rails they run on.
