Stablecoins IRL (Tempo Edition)

Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Dan Romero (  / danielwromero  ) , who leads GTM at Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain co-created by Stripe and Paradigm, for a deep dive into crypto’s future as payments infrastructure. With the GENIUS Act establishing a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, banks and payment companies have a clearer path to adopting them as a payment rail.  I start with a challenge to Dan: explain Tempo as if I were a community bank CFO who knows absolutely nothing about crypto.  From there, we explore the bets Tempo and Stripe are making about the trade-offs that come with moving money on-chain (from the economics of stablecoins and AI-driven transactions to the trade-offs between instant settlement, consumer protections, privacy, and public liquidity). Highlights include: • Why Stripe built a new blockchain with a dedicated payments lane, rather than have payments compete with crypto trades for space (Dan’s analogy: imagine Visa and the NYSE competing for bandwidth on the same server). • How OpenUSD proposes sharing most of its net interest margin with distributors, and whether Stripe's expanding payments stack can remain neutral toward competitors. • Could AI agents be stablecoins' breakthrough? Dan explores the rail-agnostic Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), and why agents may be more willing to switch payment methods. • Can stablecoins compete with cards on consumer protections, especially if AI agents can handle disputes on our behalf? • Can enterprises keep blockchain balances private and still access public liquidity? Tune in for a breezy tour of the bets being placed on stablecoin rails, from someone fluent in both crypto and payments. --- This episode is brought to you by Increase.  Increase offers API-first banking for ambitious technology companies. Companies like Coast, Gusto, and Ramp rely on Increase technology to process more than $500B annualized in payments, card transactions, and loans. Learn more at (http://increase.com) https://increase.com/  --- Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-ta... And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page (   / @fintechtakes  ) . --- Follow Alex:  YouTube:    / @fintechtakes   LinkedIn:   / alexhjohnson   X:   / alexh_johnson   --- Follow Dan: LinkedIn:   / danielwromero