Swedish fintech giant Klarna is making a significant foray into the cryptocurrency space with the launch of its own USD-backed stablecoin, KlarnaUSD. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm officially announced the initiative on Tuesday, marking a notable shift for a company whose CEO once labeled cryptocurrencies as "decentralised ponzi scheme[s]". KlarnaUSD is slated to launch on the Tempo mainnet in 2026 and will operate on the payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm.
Klarna is partnering with Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm owned by Stripe, for the issuance of KlarnaUSD. The stablecoin is currently live on the testnet version of Tempo, allowing Klarna to conduct advanced testing, prototyping, and integration. Klarna was granted early access to KlarnaUSD's infrastructure for these purposes.
The primary objective of KlarnaUSD is to facilitate faster and cheaper domestic and cross-border transactions. Klarna estimates that cross-border payments generate $120 billion in annual transaction fees and believes stablecoins can significantly reduce these costs for both consumers and merchants. A source told the Financial Times that KlarnaUSD would also help Klarna move large sums of money across the globe by bypassing intermediaries such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network. Initially, the stablecoin will likely support Klarna's internal payment infrastructure before being extended to merchants and consumer payments.
Klarna's CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, has publicly acknowledged his change of heart regarding cryptocurrency. In February 2025, he stated on X (formerly Twitter) that Klarna would embrace crypto. Siemiatkowski admitted that Klarna was the last large fintech company to enter the crypto space, a decision influenced by support from Board Member Andrew Reed of Sequoia Capital. He now asserts that "Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale". Siemiatkowski added, "This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto, and I'm excited to work with Stripe and Tempo to continue to shape the future of payments".
KlarnaUSD builds upon the existing relationship between Klarna and Stripe, who have previously collaborated to expand Klarna's merchant network across 26 markets and offer BNPL solutions to more retail checkouts. Stripe's acquisition of Bridge, a $1.1 billion deal, signaled its renewed focus on cryptocurrencies. Tempo, officially launched in September, reportedly raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation a month later. The blockchain is designed with input from businesses like Anthropic, OpenAI, Revolut, Visa, and Standard Chartered, and aims to complement existing crypto infrastructure and enable large enterprises to utilize blockchain technology.
With 114 million customers and $112 billion in annual gross merchandise volume (GMV), Klarna believes it has the scale to transform global payments. KlarnaUSD is the first of Klarna's "public sharing crypto initiatives," with the first partner to be revealed in the coming weeks. Klarna anticipates that stablecoin transactions could potentially overtake legacy payment networks before the end of the decade, targeting a possible market of $27 trillion in annual stablecoin transactions.
Klarna's move comes as regulators in the U.S. and Europe are developing new rules for digital assets. Klarna, like other stablecoin firms, is expected to benefit from frameworks such as the GENIUS Act in the U.S. and MiCA in Europe.
