Stripe announces acquisition of crypto wallet Valora, aiming to promote stablecoin network Tempo

Stripe absorbs the Valora team and launches the Tempo test network, locks in stablecoin low-fee payments, and reshapes global cash flow rules under Trump’s policies
(Preliminary information: Stripe will open USDC payment on the 12th, with a 1.5% single rate to directly attack Visa and Mastercard)
(Background supplement: Stripe’s payment-specific chain Tempo will threaten ETH and SOL Status? )

Contents of this article

Silicon Valley payment company Stripe threw two shock bombs yesterday (10): on the one hand, it cooperated with Paradigm on the Tempo blockchain open test network, and on the other hand, it announced the completion of the acquisition of the core development team of the crypto wallet Valora. The actions were only 24 hours apart, and the outside world interpreted it as Stripe was planning to deploy its own stablecoin payment railway in the payment merchant battlefield.

From API to full railway: putting together the last piece of the front-end

The joining of the Valora team is a typical talent acquisition. According to CoinDesk reports, the Valora application is still maintained by early incubator cLabs, and services will not be interrupted; Stripe has brought the team under its umbrella, focusing on converting complex public chain addresses into familiar interfaces such as mobile phone numbers. In the past, Stripe was good at fiat currency deposit APIs. Now, after incorporating Valora's user experience expertise, it has closed the last mile for end users.

Tempo: a settlement layer specially built for high-frequency commerce

Tempo testnet was launched the day before. Official data shows that the network fee is about 0.1 cents and the final confirmation time of the transaction is 0.6 seconds, which is much lower than the bank T+2 or credit card 2% to 3% rate. The platform allows gas to be paid in stablecoins, eliminating the need to hold volatile tokens. The list of partners includes Mastercard, UBS, OpenAI and Klarna, reflecting a high degree of compliance orientation. Stripe is using Tempo to make the flow friction of funds in global business scenarios close to zero.

Trump 2.0 policy expectations boost stablecoin imagination

Trump is seen as the beginning of the "golden age" of crypto regulation. The market is betting that the new government will relax restrictions on U.S. dollar stablecoins, and the long-suppressed demand for innovation is expected to be released. Stripe took advantage of this opportunity to release Tempo and acquire the Valora team, trying to seize the commanding heights before the policy dust settles. Valora CEO Jackie Bona said:

"Stripe shares our belief that stablecoins can significantly expand participation in the global economy."

The words highlight the core: Unlike companies that simply issue stablecoins, Stripe focuses on the overall process of capital circulation.

From toll booths to highways: strategic closed-loop formation

After recruiting Valora professionals, Stripe has three major elements: legal currency deposits, underlying links, and friendly interfaces to complete the service closed-loop. For merchants, by connecting to Stripe in the future, they are expected to enjoy USD stablecoin payment, second-level settlement and extremely low handling fees at once, without having to endure complicated on-chain operations. For users, transferring money may be as simple as entering a phone number, making the experience the same as sending a WhatsApp message.

Rival Visa currently maintains network revenue at a rate of more than 2%. If the Tempo ecosystem expands rapidly with the dual advantages of compliance and stable currency, the moats of traditional card organizations may be eroded. Stripe's layout is not a single point of innovation, but a comprehensive rewrite from the bottom to the front end. As Trump’s new policy pulls the trigger, the global payment railway may usher in a new watershed.

Whether Stripe can really push stablecoin payment into the hands of hundreds of millions of users still needs to be tested after the official launch of the Tempo mainnet and the introduction of regulatory details. However, the first shot has been fired, and the battlefield is slowly shifting between each handling fee and the confirmation time.