Stripe has appointed Matt Huang, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Paradigm, to serve as Chief Executive Officer of its blockchain project, Tempo. Huang already sits on Stripe’s Board and will continue in his role at Paradigm while leading the project. Tempo is described as a “high-performance, payments-focused blockchain,” according to a now-deleted job posting from the Blockchain Association. The posting indicated that Stripe is assembling a small team, noting, “Today we’re five people. We’re looking for our first marketing hire: someone who will define and own the way we present ourselves to the world.” The blockchain initiative is being built as a collaboration between Paradigm and Stripe, with the platform designed to be EVM-compatible, sources said.
Huang, a former Sequoia Partner, co-founded Paradigm in 2018 with Coinbase Co-Founder Fred Ehrsam, building it into one of the most prominent crypto venture firms with investments in Uniswap, Optimism, Phantom, and Zora. Stripe has not publicly detailed its objectives for Tempo or the timeline for launch, nor has it confirmed whether it intends to issue its own cryptocurrency. The project comes amid a broader crypto push by Stripe, which last year acquired stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge and has since expanded its partnerships and features, including collaborations with Coinbase and the acquisition of wallet firm Privy.