Delivery workers in 40 countries worldwide can receive stablecoin salaries! Delivery giant DoorDash adopts Tempo blockchain

Delivery giant DoorDash partners with Tempo, a blockchain product under Stripe, to launch a stablecoin payroll test. The initiative aims to use on-chain U.S. dollars to solve cross-border payment delays and currency exchange costs for delivery workers and merchants across 40 countries worldwide.

Delivery leader DoorDash launches stablecoin payroll testing with Tempo

Global delivery industry leader DoorDash has officially announced a deep partnership with Tempo, a blockchain payments company. This initiative is designed to provide stablecoin-based payroll settlement and payment options for delivery workers (Dashers) and partner merchants across more than 40 countries worldwide through blockchain technology. This move signifies that On-chain Dollars have officially entered the mainstream U.S. gig economy market.

At present, DoorDash’s global marketplace operations involve multiple currencies, complex payment rails, and different regulatory requirements across countries. Introducing stablecoins can effectively address the inefficiency issues caused by fragmented regional rails in traditional financial systems.

DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang noted that the complexity of the global payments ecosystem comes from differences in payment requirements from country to country. DoorDash is building a payments infrastructure focused on settlement speed, reducing cross-border costs, and transaction flexibility.

Image source: DoorDash DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang

Data shows that in Q4 2025, DoorDash processed approximately 903 million orders, with a total order value reaching $29.7 billion. With such a massive transaction volume, shifting part of the payment flow to stablecoins would significantly improve the operational efficiency of the entire ecosystem. The collaboration is also part of Tempo’s newly launched “stablecoin consulting” service, aiming to help large enterprises embed stablecoin rails into existing products and banking stacks.

Tempo’s on-chain finance blueprint and blue-chip client layout

Tempo is an exclusive Layer1 blockchain co-incubated by payment giant Stripe and the crypto venture capital firm Paradigm. Unlike most public chains that emphasize speculative trading, Tempo positions itself as a “payment-first” blockchain, designed specifically for fast, low-cost stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, and machine-to-machine (M2M) payments.

In 2025, the project completed a $500 million funding round at a valuation of $5 billion. Tempo’s core strength is extremely low transaction costs: it aims to bring per-transaction fees down to below 0.001, and the fees are paid directly in stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar—substantially lowering the usage threshold for enterprises and reducing accounting complexity.

• Related news: Payment giant Stripe teams up with VC partners to develop its own blockchain Tempo and build an independent payment network

In addition to DoorDash, Tempo’s partner roster includes multiple financial giants. Visa has announced that it will become an “Anchor Validator” for the Tempo network, and will jointly maintain network operations with Stripe and Zodia Custody. The network will operate under Standard Chartered Bank. In addition, Coastal Community Bank, financial services platform ARQ, Shopify, and even OpenAI have also entered early design collaborations or payment application relationships with Tempo.

Tempo has also launched a “stablecoin consulting” service, with dedicated engineering teams assisting enterprises in designing treasury processes and ensuring compliance. These integration efforts show that blockchain payments infrastructure is shifting from experimental phases to large-scale, institutionalized applications.

Solving global payment pain points with real benefits: sub-second settlement and reduced FX costs

DoorDash’s core motivation for adopting stablecoin payments is the pursuit of efficiency. Traditional cross-border payments often take days to settle, and pass through multiple layers of intermediary banks along the way, resulting in high fees and unfavorable foreign exchange spreads. With stablecoin settlement, transactions can be completed within seconds, which is especially attractive to delivery workers and small and medium-sized merchants that rely on real-time income.

Andy Fang emphasized that sending funds to merchants and delivery workers in a more affordable and faster way can have a positive impact on the entire ecosystem.

The design of this infrastructure emphasizes “enterprise readiness.” Features such as sub-second settlement, fixed fee rates, and private transaction channels offered by Tempo are capabilities that traditional public chains generally cannot provide. With these functions, large platforms can move payroll disbursements, supplier settlements, and embedded financial products onto blockchain rails. This model enables users to enjoy the convenience brought by blockchain technology without having to deal with complex crypto wallets or private key custody.

In 2025, DoorDash generated nearly $75 billion in sales for local merchants. The introduction of stablecoin settlement will further simplify cross-border costs and middleman fees across these massive cash flows.

The future of stablecoin payments? From crypto niche to mainstream labor markets

Stablecoin market capitalization reached a record high of $315 billion in April 2026, indicating that these digital assets are rapidly integrating into the global monetary circulation system. Stripe, a fintech leader with annual payment processing volumes approaching $2 trillion, is committed to making blockchain and stablecoins the core layer for global fund movement. Its vision is to become the “AWS of the financial industry.”

After Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in 2024 for $1.1 billion, it has continued to strengthen its on-chain settlement capabilities. It believes that a 24/7 operating blockchain is a natural extension of traditional banking rails and is well suited to new economic activities such as AI agents and high-frequency micropayments.

Wider adoption of stablecoin payments also brings new regulatory issues. As large platforms like DoorDash begin to test paying wages with stablecoins, regulators around the world need to accelerate the formulation of relevant rules to address legal challenges brought by digital wages and deposits. Although DoorDash’s stock (DASH) fell slightly by about 2% after the news announcement, to around 186, the market generally remains optimistic about its long-term potential to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

DoorDash stated that it is still in the early stage and will take a thoughtful approach to ensure that all built infrastructure meets regulatory requirements, and will genuinely improve the payment and wage-collection experience for both delivery workers and merchants.