Sweden’s Klarna announces KlarnaUSD stablecoin, set to go live on Tempo

• Klarna launches KlarnaUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin, on Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo chain.
• KlarnaUSD siktar på billigare gränsöverskridande betalningar innan en bredare konsumentlansering.
• Stablecoin market surges past $300B as major fintechs adopt blockchain rails.

Klarna has taken a major step into digital finance with the announcement of KlarnaUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin built on Tempo, the new layer-1 blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm.

Introducing KlarnaUSD, our first @Stablecoin.

We’re the first bank to launch on @tempo, the payments blockchain by @stripe and @paradigm.

Med stablecoin-transaktioner redan på $27T per år, erbjuder vi snabbare, billigare gränsöverskridande betalningar till våra 114 miljoner kunder.

Crypto is…

— Klarna (@Klarna) November 25, 2025

The move signals a decisive shift for the Swedish digital bank, which is preparing to integrate blockchain technology more deeply into its global payment systems.

Klarna steps into crypto

KlarnaUSD is now live on Tempo’s testnet, with a full mainnet rollout planned for 2026.

Stablecoin utfärdas genom Bridge, Stripes dedikerade stablecoin-infrastrukturprodukt, vilket ger Klarna en direkt anslutning till en av de mest avancerade betalningsfokuserade blockchain-stackarna.

Notably, Klarna is the first financial institution to issue a token on Tempo, a blockchain engineered specifically for fast and low-cost payments.

Klarna explained that the token will first support internal payment flows.

Målet är att sänka kostnaden för gränsöverskridande överföringar, en bestående kostnad för globala fintechföretag.

After the mainnet rollout, the digital bank has signalled plans to extend KlarnaUSD to merchants and consumers after internal testing.

That expansion would build on Klarna’s broad checkout and instalment-payment network, though the firm says there are currently no plans to integrate the stablecoin into its buy now, pay later product.

Klarna’s push to cut global transfer costs

Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, once sceptical of crypto, has now embraced blockchain’s potential in payments.

Siemiatkowski said that crypto has reached a stage where it is “fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale,” describing KlarnaUSD as the beginning of a broader strategy.

With more than 114 million customers and $112 billion in annual gross merchandise volume, Klarna believes it has the scale to shift how global payments work.

Bankens partnerskap med Stripe har varit centralt för detta initiativ. Stripe bearbetar redan en stor del av Klarnas trafik, och Tempo tillhandahåller infrastrukturen för en mer effektiv avveckling.

Cross-border payments cost consumers and businesses around $120 billion each year, and KlarnaUSD is expected to cut a significant portion of these fees.

Tidiga uppskattningar inom branschen visar att blockchain-baserade infrastrukturer kan minska kostnaderna för internationella betalningar med upp till 90% jämfört med traditionella nätverk.

Furthermore, KlarnaUSD’s launch comes at a moment when stablecoin usage is surging, with annual transaction volume already surpassing $27 trillion, according to McKinsey.

Den globala marknads­kapitaliseringen för stabila mynt har ökat från $260 miljarder i juli till cirka $304 miljarder i november, där mycket av denna tillväxt kommit efter antagandet av den amerikanska GENIUS-lagen, den första federala lagen som reglerar stabila mynt.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expects stablecoins to reach a $3 trillion market cap by 2030, a scale that could save the US government $114 billion annually.

A market expanding at record speed

Other major companies are also entering the stablecoin arena.

MetaMask lanserade mUSD tidigare i år, och Western Union planerar att lansera en stablecoin på Solana år 2026.

Visa added support for the Global Dollar token and expanded settlement capabilities across Stellar and Avalanche.

Momentumet tyder på att stablecoins håller på att bli en central pelare i den globala finansiella infrastrukturen.

Klarna’s entrance adds another high-profile name to this growing list.

The bank recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $1.37 billion and reinforcing its financial position despite its stock hovering near 52-week lows.

Strong liquidity gives Klarna room to explore blockchain-based products, with executives hinting that more crypto-related projects are on the way.

När KlarnaUSD närmar sig mainnet kommer alla att följa hur företaget integrerar token i sina globala operationer.

If successful, KlarnaUSD may become one of the clearest examples yet of how established fintech companies can use blockchain to update old payment systems, and potentially redefine the future of cross-border money movement.

The post Sweden’s Klarna announces KlarnaUSD stablecoin, set to go live on Tempo appeared first on CoinJournal.