Klarna Debuts Stablecoin as it Expands Into On-Chain Payments

Swedish financial services company Klarna on Tuesday unveiled KlarnaUSD, its first stablecoin, becoming the first bank to launch a token on Tempo – a payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm.

The move allows Klarna to tap into fast-growing stablecoin payment rails, which it said in an X post are already processing more than $27 trillion in annual transaction volume. Separate estimates from Visa put total stablecoin transaction volume even higher at roughly $52.4 trillion over the past year.

Klarna explained that KlarnaUSD will be used to power faster, cheaper cross-border payments for its 114 million customers and will integrate with Tempo and Bridge, Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure provider.

The rollout marks a significant shift for Klarna, which is typically known for buy-now-pay-later services, toward a broader on-chain payments strategy. Stablecoins currently boast a market capitalization of $304 billion – up sharply from $180 billion in November 2024, per DeFiLlama.

Currently, Tether’s USDT holds the largest market share (61%) at a market capitalization of over $184 billion.

“With 114 million customers and $118 billion in annual GMV, Klarna has the scale to change payments globally: with Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna. “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale.”

Klarna’s move comes as several mainstream financial institutions, like PayPal and Société Générale, continue to embrace stablecoins. Just last week, the Bank of NY Mellon (BNY) launched a new money market fund to enhance the safety of stablecoin reserves.

One recent EY-Parthenon survey found that stablecoins are already used by 13% of financial institutions and corporations globally, while more than half of non-users expect to adopt them within the next 6 to 12 months.

EY-Parthenon even projects that by 2030, between 5% and 10% of all cross-border payments could move over stablecoin rails, The Defiant has previously reported.

Earlier this year, Klarna announced plans to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for customer payments. Its stock is currently trading at $29.25, trading flat on the day.