Klarna, a Swedish fintech company that provides “buy now, pay later” services, is launching its own stablecoin on layer-1 network Tempo, according to a Tuesday press release. The token will be called KlarnaUSD when it debuts next year, alongside the mainnet for the network being developed by payments giant Stripe and venture firm Paradigm.
Klarna said it now sees stablecoins as a way to “dramatically reduce costs for both consumers and merchants”—but it acknowledged that its co-founder and CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, was once a vocal crypto skeptic. In 2021, he told CNBC he was “deeply worried” about Bitcoin’s promotion on social media, urging regulators to step in.
“With Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone,” he said in a statement. “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale.”
Klarna said that its stablecoin was created with help from Bridge, the stablecoin payment platform that Stripe acquired for a whopping $1.1 billion a year ago. Bridge issues several stablecoins, including one offered by Ethereum wallet MetaMask. (Disclosure: MetaMask parent company Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
Klarna noted that stablecoin transactions total around $27 trillion a year, according to estimates from consulting firm McKinsey, and that blockchains “could overtake legacy payment networks before the decade is out.” As Klarna tests KlarnUSD on Tempo’s testnet, the token isn’t yet available to the public. The firm added that it will make other crypto-related announcements in the coming weeks.
Earlier this year, Klarna was among companies that drew public attention for expanding buy now, pay later services into new corners of consumer life. That included a partnership with DoorDash, allowing people to enjoy burritos across four interest-free installments.
In 2022, when the cheapest Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT sold for around $100,000, lending protocol Teller introduced an “Ape Now, Buy Later” feature that mirrored Klarna’s functionality. However, Teller’s service was limited to a select number of notable NFT projects.
Later that year, an a16z-backed company called Halliday unveiled “play now, pay later,” saying the service could help make NFTs more affordable and accessible for gamers. Klarna’s stock price was little changed on Tuesday at $29.27, according to Yahoo Finance. Its shares have fallen 35% after debuting on the New York Stock Exchange in September.
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