Briefly
- Stripe’s blockchain mission Tempo has reportedly raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation, in a Sequence A spherical co-led by Greenoaks and Thrive Capital.
- Tempo additionally employed Dankrad Feist, a number one Ethereum Basis researcher, sparking debate throughout the crypto neighborhood.
- Whereas Vitalik Buterin supported Feist’s transfer, others criticized it as a blow to open-source beliefs in favor of company blockchains.
In a serious present of power for Stripe’s upstart blockchain mission Tempo, the corporate has reportedly raised $500 million—and nabbed one of many Ethereum community’s most outstanding core builders, as properly.
Tempo has raised the funds in a Sequence A spherical that now values the mission at $5 billion, in keeping with a Friday report in Fortune. The spherical was reportedly co-led by enterprise agency Greenoaks and Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
Stripe declined remark to Decrypt. Greenoaks and Thrive didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s requests for remark relating to the elevate. Paradigm, the crypto enterprise agency that incubated Tempo alongside Stripe, additionally didn’t instantly reply to an inquiry.
Whereas the funding spherical marks a big early win for Tempo—a layer-1 blockchain that may help fee processor Stripe’s aggressive push into crypto—it was not the most important information in regards to the mission that rocked Crypto Twitter on Friday.
That was the revelation that Tempo has efficiently poached Dankrad Feist, a key contributor to the Ethereum community, to construct out Stripe’s new chain.
Feist, a high researcher on the Ethereum Basis, revealed Friday he had accepted Tempo’s supply, however will stay a analysis advisor to a handful of strategic initiatives on the nonprofit.
I’m excited to announce that I will likely be becoming a member of Tempo. This final yr has been a turning level for crypto, the place we’ve lastly seen the outlines of our imaginative and prescient being materialized. Whereas funds was once entrance and middle within the early days of crypto, I see a particular alternative…
— Dankrad Feist (@dankrad) October 17, 2025
“I consider that the actual world second is now, and I need to make certain we don’t miss this window to the touch regular individuals’s lives in every single place on the earth,” Feist stated, arguing his determination to affix Tempo will allow him to extra successfully convey crypto funds to the lots.
Whereas the transfer was publicly blessed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who wished Feist luck in his new job, different members of the crypto neighborhood had been far much less enthused.
“Dankrad leaving Ethereum is a horrible search for open-source vs. company blockchains,” Andy, co-host of The Rollup, a preferred crypto-focused podcast, stated. “Enormous L for your complete neighborhood.”
Gwart, one other widespread crypto influencer, likened Feist’s profession shift to the notion of environmental activist Greta Thunberg accepting a place at oil big British Petroleum.
Laurence Day, co-founder of Wildcat, a decentralized Ethereum lending protocol, in contrast the information of Feist’s new gig to an issue that brewed final yr when the software program developer and one other colleague, Justin Drake, accepted advisory positions at Ethereum restaking protocol Eigenlayer alongside their Ethereum Basis duties.
Neighborhood backlash about potential conflicts of curiosity was vital sufficient that Feist and Drake each deserted the advisor positions.
“That Eigenlayer advisorship seems fairly tame by comparability now, doesn’t it?” Day reminisced in the present day.
Ryan Sean Adams, one other outstanding crypto influencer and famous Ethereum backer, joked that Friday’s information didn’t break his religion within the decentralization-focused community—however that such a day might come quickly.
“If Vitalik joins Tempo, I’m out,” Adams stated.
Editor’s observe: This story was up to date after publication to notice that Stripe declined remark.
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