Stripe-Backed Tempo Expands Into Lending With Morpho Integration

Tempo is expanding its push into institutional stablecoin infrastructure by adding decentralized lending and yield capabilities to its blockchain.

The Stripe- and Paradigm-backed company said it is integrating Morpho’s lending marketplace, a move that broadens Tempo from a payments network into a more comprehensive financial platform for FinTechs and enterprises using stablecoins. According to a Monday (May 18) report from CoinDesk, the integration gives companies building on Tempo access to Morpho’s decentralized lending marketplace, which manages about $7.5 billion in assets.

The partnership will allow users to lend, borrow and earn yield on stablecoin balances directly on-chain while continuing to use Tempo’s payments, foreign exchange and settlement tools. The move reflects rising interest among payments and FinTech firms in generating returns from stablecoin balances that would otherwise remain idle. Morpho’s lending system will include curated lending markets managed by risk firms Gauntlet and Sentora, while RedStone will provide pricing data for stablecoins, bitcoin-backed assets and tokenized real-world assets.

“We’re seeing growing demand from enterprises looking to integrate DeFi capabilities into their payments products and create more value for their users,” Eric Kang, Tempo’s go-to-market lead, told CoinDesk.

Tempo launched earlier this year with backing from Stripe and Paradigm and support from companies Mastercard, Revolut, Shopify, Klarna and UBS. The firm is part of a broader wave of institution-focused blockchain projects seeking to connect traditional financial services with stablecoin infrastructure and decentralized finance capabilities.

For this launch, Visa partnered with Stripe and Tempo to support machine payments through Tempo’s Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), enabling card-based payments for autonomous AI agents through Visa’s global network. Visa said the initiative would combine programmable payments with fraud prevention, authentication and security controls designed for agent-driven commerce.

In April, Walmart-backed OnePay partnered with Tempo to introduce stablecoin payouts and account funding capabilities for its banking products.

PYMNTS Intelligence research shows stablecoins are gaining traction among middle market firms, though adoption remains early. Forty-two percent of CFOs said their companies have discussed, tested or used stablecoins, compared with 30% for cryptocurrencies. Still, only 13% report actual stablecoin usage. Firms view stablecoins primarily as payment infrastructure, with most companies immediately converting received stablecoins into U.S. dollars rather than holding them on balance sheet.