Tempo

Tempo issues no currency — it is a rail for third-party stablecoins, overwhelmingly fiat-backed USD instruments issued by permissioned entities. No debt-free issuance, no link to real economic activity, no supply elasticity of its own.

Stability is delegated entirely to the fiat-pegged stablecoins it carries (USD peg = borrowed, inflation-exposed benchmark). No protocol-level stability mechanism; purchasing-power drift is inherited from the dollar.

Deeply fiat-coupled by design: unit of account is the USD, gas is paid in USD stablecoins, and the value proposition is moving fiat-backed tokens for banks and fintechs. No independence goal.

Mainnet only since March 2026 (TR-02 low) but unusually strong institutional traction for its age: 10+ blue-chip design partners across banking, cards and AI (TR-07 = 5), major media coverage (TR-08), active well-funded team (TR-06 = 5). No unit-of-account role and enterprise-driven rather than organic adoption cap the score.

Corporate consortium infrastructure: Stripe-led with a permissioned validator set at launch, US jurisdictional nexus, and compliance-oriented design implying censorship capability. Not credibly shutdown-resistant.

No public or community governance; decisions rest with the Tempo company and its backers. Documentation is public but rule changes require no broader consent (GO-08 low).

Extremely well funded with first-tier engineering and redundant enterprise infrastructure (RE-07 = 5); explicitly designed for AI-agent payments (RE-09 = 5). But zero adversarial track record and tight coupling to current corporate/regulatory rails keep it mid-range.

Enterprise-first: end users arrive through KYC-gated partners (banks, fintechs), benefits accrue to corporate shareholders, and participant classes are structurally unequal, though fees are low and partner reach (Nubank, Revolut) touches emerging markets.