DoorDash is working with Stripe-backed Tempo and Paradigm to explore paying delivery workers in stablecoins, with Visa, banks and fintech companies connecting to Tempo’s rails.
summary
- DoorDash is working with Stripe-backed Tempo and Paradigm to explore paying delivery workers with stablecoins.
- Tempo has launched a “stablecoin consulting” arm to help companies design use cases and transition stablecoins into existing payment and banking groups.
- Visa, Stripe, Coastal Community Bank, ARQ, OnePay, Felix, Fifth Third Bank and Howard Hughes Holdings are all working to integrate payments or infrastructure with Tempo.
DoorDash is teaming up with blockchain project Tempo to explore paying delivery couriers with stablecoins, in one of the clearest signs yet that on-chain dollars are creeping into mainstream gig work in the United States. Fortune reports that the collaboration is part of Tempo’s new “stablecoin consulting” service, which promises to help companies identify concrete use cases and then send engineers to embed stablecoin tracks into their existing products.
DoorDash is experimenting with stablecoin salaries
Tempo, incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto investment firm Paradigm, is building a custom layer-one blockchain optimized for high-speed, low-cost payments with stablecoins rather than trading, and has raised about $500 million at a $5 billion valuation in 2025. The company bills itself as a “payments-first blockchain” that can handle payroll, money transfers and machine-to-machine payments in Real world scale, with fees paid directly to dollar-pegged stablecoins rather than volatile native currencies.
According to a memo shared with Fortune, Tempo’s new consulting unit will consist of a small, dedicated team that draws on the broader organization’s engineering office to help clients across stablecoin scenarios, design treasury flows, and integrate with core banking and payment systems. Coastal Community Bank and financial services platform ARQ are already building stablecoin infrastructure in addition to Tempo, while Visa, OnePay, Felix, Fifth Third Bank and Howard Hughes Holdings are connecting parts of their payments to the network.
tapewhich has published its own guidance on how businesses can use stablecoins for global payments, sees Tempo as a natural extension of its card and banking issues in 24/7 on-chain settlement, especially for cross-border platforms, AI agents, and high-frequency micropayments. modelAt the same time, it frames Tempo as the missing piece in the “pile” of cryptocurrencies that have historically been set up for speculative trading rather than regulated and predictable consumer payments.
If DoorDash’s experience and early banking integrations are successful, Tempo’s model could give large platforms a template for converting at least a portion of their payroll, supplier settlements, and integrated financial products to stablecoin paths — without forcing users to deal with crypto’s typical user experience or custody headaches. For operators and merchants, this can ultimately translate into faster, programmable payments; For regulators, this will intensify discussions about how to supervise Stable coinWages and deposits based on their move from the cryptocurrency spheres to mainstream labor markets.
