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What is Tempo?

Tempo is a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for payments, co-developed by Stripe and Paradigm. It combines EVM compatibility with payment-specific features like stablecoin gas fees, payment lanes, and built-in compliance support.
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 like USDC, eliminating the need for a volatile gas token
  • Sub-second finality — Transactions finalize in approximately 0.5 seconds using Simplex Consensus
  • Payment lanes — Dedicated blockspace ensures payment transactions always have room, even during network congestion
  • TIP-20 token standard — Extended ERC-20 with ISO 20022 memos, compliance hooks, and 6-decimal precision for stablecoins
  • EVM compatible — Deploy Solidity contracts using familiar tools like Foundry, Hardhat, and Remix

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Network details

PropertyValue
Network nameTempo Testnet
Chain ID42429 (0xa5bd)
CurrencyUSD stablecoins (no native token)
Block time~0.5 seconds
FinalitySub-second (Simplex Consensus)
Explorerexplore.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. The public testnet RPC endpoint is: 
https://rpc.testnet.tempo.xyz
You can use this endpoint directly in your applications to interact with the Tempo blockchain.

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Predeployed contracts

Tempo includes several predeployed system contracts for payments, tokens, and compliance:
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
pathUSD0x20c0000000000000000000000000000000000000Test stablecoin
Multicall30xcA11bde05977b3631167028862bE2a173976CA11Batch multiple calls

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Get testnet tokens

Tempo uses stablecoins for gas fees. To get testnet tokens, use the tempo_fundAddress RPC method: 
curl -X POST https://rpc.testnet.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.

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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