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Klarna Launches KlarnaUSD as Stablecoin Transactions Hit $27 Trillion Annually
Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, has launched KlarnaUSD, its first stablecoin and a significant shift for a company whose CEO was once a vocal crypto skeptic. The move comes as McKinsey estimates stablecoin transactions now top $27 trillion a year — and could overtake legacy payment networks before the decade is out.
The move makes Klarna the first bank to launch a stablecoin on Tempo, a new independent blockchain started by Stripe and Paradigm that’s purpose-built for payments. With cross-border payments generating an estimated $120 billion2 in transaction fees annually, Klarna sees stablecoins as a way to dramatically reduce costs for both consumers and merchants.
“With 114 million customers and $118 billion in annual GMV, Klarna has the scale to change payments globally: with Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone,” says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna. “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale. This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto, and I’m excited to work with Stripe and Tempo to continue to shape the future of payments.”
KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by Bridge, a leading stablecoin infrastructure platform and Stripe company, and will launch on Tempo’s mainnet in 2026. It is currently live on their testnet and not publicly available, giving Klarna early access to its infrastructure for advanced testing, prototyping, and integration. The partnership deepens an already extensive relationship between Klarna and Stripe, which spans payments infrastructure across Klarna’s 26 markets globally.
This is the beginning of Klarna publicly sharing crypto initiatives. We will reveal our next partner in the coming weeks.
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