Klarna is jumping into stablecoins with KlarnaUSD, a dollar-pegged token built for on-chain payments. The Swedish fintech will issue the coin on Tempo, a payments blockchain created by Stripe and Paradigm, and says it will use Stripe's Bridge infrastructure to connect with merchants and wallets.
Why this move matters
Stablecoins are becoming a serious alternative to traditional payment rails. Klarna pointed to payment networks that already handle more than $27 trillion in annual transactions via stablecoins, as it noted on X. Separate Visa data puts that figure closer to $52.4 trillion over the last year. If Klarna can route even a small slice of its massive volume through these rails, fees and settlement times could shrink.
Klarna serves 114 million customers and reported $118 billion in annual gross merchandise volume (GMV). With that scale, it becomes the first bank to issue a token on Tempo, signaling that mainstream payment players now see on-chain settlement as production-ready, not experimental.
How KlarnaUSD is supposed to work
A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually $1, by holding reserves. KlarnaUSD will ride on Tempo and integrate with Bridge, Stripe's stablecoin stack, to move money across borders faster and at lower cost. In practical terms, that could mean merchants get paid sooner, international shoppers face fewer surprise fees, and refunds or payouts clear in minutes instead of days.
Tempo's focus is payments-first, aiming for predictable costs and quick finality. By issuing directly on Tempo and using Bridge, Klarna is positioning KlarnaUSD as a settlement asset inside its checkout and payouts flow, rather than a speculative token.
The market backdrop
Stablecoins have swelled to a market value of about $304 billion, up from roughly $180 billion in November 2024, according to DeFiLlama. Tether's USDT leads with about 61% share and more than $184 billion in market cap. That dominance highlights a gap Klarna could help fill: payments use cases tailored for consumers and merchants, not just crypto trading.
What leaders are saying
"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," said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna's co-founder and CEO. "Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale."
Others are moving too
Big finance is warming up to stablecoins. PayPal has rolled out its own dollar token for payments, and France's Société Générale has issued euro stablecoins aimed at capital markets. Last week, BNY Mellon launched a money market fund designed to reinforce how stablecoin reserves are managed and safeguarded—another sign that the plumbing behind tokens is getting more institutional.
Adoption signals
An EY-Parthenon survey found that 13% of financial institutions and corporations already use stablecoins. More than half of those not yet using them expect to adopt within 6 to 12 months. EY-Parthenon projects that by 2030, 5% to 10% of cross-border payments could ride on stablecoin rails. For a company like Klarna—best known for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL)—that shift could translate into lower operating costs and faster cash flow at checkout.
What this means for shoppers and merchants
- Lower costs: On-chain settlement can cut card and cross-border fees.
- Faster payments: Payouts and refunds may clear in minutes, not days.
- Global reach: Stablecoins can move value 24/7 without traditional banking hours.
Earlier this year, Klarna also said it would accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for customer payments, signaling a broader crypto strategy that goes beyond a single token.
Risks and open questions
- Regulation: How reserves are held, audited, and reported will be key for trust.
- Network choice: Tempo's performance and reliability must hold up at Klarna's scale.
- User experience: Most shoppers don't want to manage crypto wallets; seamless abstraction will matter.
By the numbers
- $27T–$52.4T: Estimated annual stablecoin transaction volume (Klarna via X; Visa analytics)
- $304B: Stablecoin market cap today; up from $180B (Nov. 2024)
- 61%: Tether's share of the stablecoin market; ~$184B cap
- 114M: Klarna customers; $118B GMV
What to watch next
Keep an eye on merchant integrations through Stripe's Bridge, cross-border corridors that KlarnaUSD targets first, and transparency around reserves. Klarna's stock was recently trading around $29.25, flat on the day—a neutral first read from public markets as the company pushes deeper into crypto payments.