Klarna Rolls Out KlarnaUSD as Stablecoin Use Surges to $27 Trillion a Year

The new coin is a U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin built using the "Open Issuance" platform from Bridge, a stablecoin-infrastructure arm of Stripe, and will operate on Tempo: a payments-optimized blockchain co-developed by Stripe and Paradigm.

KlarnaUSD is currently live only on Tempo's testnet. The company plans to launch it on the mainnet in 2026. It said the testnet phase of KlarnaUSD would be used to deliver technical integrations, prototyping and risk evaluation.

Klarna thinks timing is everything. The market in stablecoins is hot: the global volume of stablecoin transactions is now put at $ 27 trillion annually, a scale that Klarna estimates could see stablecoins "overtake legacy payment networks before the decade is out."

For Klarna, the deal marks a significant strategic shift. Traditionally recognized as a provider of BNPL services and e-commerce payment processing, the firm now positions itself as a broad-based payments infrastructure provider. In the press release, Klarna pointed out that with 114 million customers and around $112 billion in annual gross merchandise volume, the company has achieved sufficient scale to take on traditional payment networks worldwide.

Klarna's CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, once a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies, signalled a full reversal in stance. "Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale. This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto," he said.

Klarna believes KlarnaUSD can radically reduce the cost of cross-border payments both for merchants and consumers. Cross-border payments generate today an estimated $120 billion in fees yearly; on a high-throughput blockchain, using a stablecoin should cut those costs substantially.

Beyond the cost savings, the move might have broader implications in recalibrating the landscape of payments. Traditional banking networks tend to depend on correspondent banking, wire transfers, and card rails, which frequently are beset by high latency and fees, especially across borders. A stablecoin solution running atop a purpose-built blockchain such as that provided by Tempo could therefore provide near-instant settlement, with lower friction and global reach without the overhead of legacy payment infrastructure.

From a strategic perspective, this puts Klarna in the group of major payment players that have embraced stablecoins-a sign of growing institutional confidence in digital-asset rails. But it also raises questions about compliance, regulatory oversight, and the challenge of integrating stablecoins seamlessly into legacy financial systems.

Regulators' responses will be closely watched in major markets, including the US and Europe. The GENIUS Act in the US and Europe's Markets in Crypto‑Assets regulation (MiCA) could determine how widespread and swift the scaling of such stablecoin offerings by companies like Klarna will be.

Klarna is wagering that existing infrastructure, an international user base, and a new paradigm of payments help pierce through deeply entrenched incumbents. Whether KlarnaUSD will become a go-to vehicle for cross-border commerce or just remain a niche offering will depend on how technical, regulatory, and market adoption challenges are overcome.