Vocal critic-turned-supporter Sebastian Siemiatkowski says he was wrong about crypto.
Swedish fintech giant Klarna has become the first bank to launch a stablecoin on the Stripe-Paradigm joint venture Tempo. The coin is set to launch in 2026.
Called ‘KlarnaUSD’, the stablecoin – which also marks Klarna’s first – could help cut down on the estimated $120bn worth of transaction fees generated annually via cross-border payments, the company said.
A source told the Financial Times that the stablecoin would also help Klarna move large amounts of money globally by cutting out parties such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications – or SWIFT – network.
Though the launch was likely to help with the company’s internal payment infrastructure to begin with, the use of KlarnaUSD will eventually be rolled out for merchants and consumer payments, the source added.
“With 114m customers and $112bn in annual GMV [Gross Merchandise Value], Klarna has the scale to change payments globally,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s co-founder and CEO.
“With Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone.
“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.”
Siemiatkowski, once a vocal crypto skeptic according to the company’s own admission, changed his mind in recent years. In an X post earlier this year, he said: “Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto. Last large fintech in the world to embrace it.”
While in a post today, he referenced his earlier position and said: “We were wrong on crypto and on Bitcoin.”
KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by Bridge, a stablecoin platform which was acquired by Stripe a year ago. The $1.1bn acquisition is Stripe’s biggest purchase to date.
Tempo was officially launched in September, and just a month later had reportedly raised $500m at a $5bn valuation.
The blockchain is designed with input from businesses such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Revolut, Visa and Standard Chartered, the company said, and was created to complement existing crypto infrastructure and offer a way for large enterprises to come on chain.
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