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What is Tempo?

Tempo is a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for payments. It combines EVM compatibility with payment-specific features like stablecoin gas fees, payment lanes, built-in compliance support, and the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) for inline HTTP payments.
Tempo is designed for high-throughput payment applications with sub-second finality and the ability to pay transaction fees in stablecoins instead of a volatile native token.

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Key features

  • Stablecoin gas fees — Pay transaction fees in USD stablecoins, eliminating the need for a volatile gas token
  • Sub-second finality — Transactions finalize in approximately 500 milliseconds using Simplex Consensus
  • Payment lanes — Dedicated blockspace ensures payment transactions always have room, even during network congestion
  • Tempo Transactions — Custom EIP-2718 transaction type with fee sponsorship, batch calls, 2D nonces, access keys, and scheduled transactions
  • TIP-20 token standard — Extended ERC-20 with ISO 20022 memos, compliance hooks, and 6-decimal precision for stablecoins
  • Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) — HTTP 402-based inline payments for paid APIs, MCP tools, and agentic commerce
  • Enshrined stablecoin DEX — Protocol-level exchange for stablecoin swaps with limit orders and flip orders
  • EVM compatible — Deploy Solidity contracts using familiar tools like Foundry, Hardhat, and Remix

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Network details

PropertyValue
Network nameTempo Mainnet
Chain ID4217 (0x1079)
CurrencyUSD stablecoins (no native token)
Block time~0.5 seconds
FinalitySub-second (Simplex Consensus)
Explorerexplore.mainnet.tempo.xyz

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What is the Tempo API?

The Tempo API allows developers to communicate with the Tempo blockchain to build payment applications. To read data from and send transactions to the Tempo blockchain, an application must connect to a Tempo RPC node. When communicating with a Tempo RPC node, the Tempo client implements a JSON-RPC specification, a communication protocol allowing one to make remote calls and execute them as if they were made locally. Tempo supports all standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods plus Tempo-specific extensions for payments and compliance.

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How to start using the Tempo API

To use the Tempo API, you need access to a Tempo RPC node.
  1. Sign up with Chainstack.
  2. Deploy a Tempo node.
  3. Use your Chainstack endpoint in your applications.
See also View node access and credentials.

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Predeployed contracts

Tempo includes several predeployed system contracts for payments, tokens, and compliance. These addresses are the same on both mainnet and testnet:
ContractAddressPurpose
TIP-20 Factory0x20fc000000000000000000000000000000000000Create TIP-20 stablecoin tokens
Fee Manager0xfeec000000000000000000000000000000000000Handle fee payments and conversions
Stablecoin DEX0xdec0000000000000000000000000000000000000Enshrined DEX for stablecoin swaps
TIP-403 Registry0x403c000000000000000000000000000000000000Transfer policy registry for compliance
pathUSD0x20c0000000000000000000000000000000000000First stablecoin deployed
Multicall30xcA11bde05977b3631167028862bE2a173976CA11Batch multiple calls
CreateX0xba5Ed099633D3B313e4D5F7bdc1305d3c28ba5EdDeterministic contract deployment
Permit20x000000000022d473030f116ddee9f6b43ac78ba3Token approvals and transfers

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Get testnet tokens

The faucet is only available on Tempo testnet. On mainnet, acquire stablecoins from issuers or ecosystem partners.
To get testnet tokens, use the tempo_fundAddress RPC method on the public Tempo RPC: 
curl -X POST https://rpc.moderato.tempo.xyz \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tempo_fundAddress",
    "params": ["YOUR_ADDRESS"],
    "id": 1
  }'
This funds your address with test stablecoins: pathUSD, AlphaUSD, BetaUSD, and ThetaUSD (1M of each).

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Important differences from Ethereum

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No native token balance

Tempo has no native token. The eth_getBalance method returns a placeholder value. To check balances, query TIP-20 token contracts directly using balanceOf.

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Stablecoin gas fees

Transaction fees are paid in TIP-20 stablecoins. The Fee AMM automatically converts between stablecoins, so users can pay in any supported USD token.

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Transaction receipts

Tempo transaction receipts include additional fields:
  • feeToken — The TIP-20 token address used to pay fees
  • feePayer — The address that paid the fees (may differ from sender with fee sponsorship)
See also
Last modified on March 19, 2026