Stripe’s Tempo Raises $500M, Hires Top Ethereum Researcher

In a landmark Series A round that values the project at $5 billion, Stripe’s blockchain initiative Tempo has secured $500 million in funding co-led by venture firms Greenoaks and Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital. The substantial investment represents one of the largest early-stage funding rounds in the blockchain space and underscores the significant financial backing behind Stripe’s push into cryptocurrency infrastructure. The funding round, reported by Fortune, positions Tempo as a major player in the corporate blockchain landscape before the project has even launched publicly.

The involvement of Greenoaks and Thrive Capital, both established venture firms with strong track records in technology investments, lends considerable credibility to Tempo’s ambitions. Paradigm, the crypto venture firm that incubated Tempo alongside Stripe, also played a foundational role in the project’s development. This level of institutional support at such an early stage is unusual even in the well-funded blockchain sector and indicates strong confidence in Tempo’s potential to transform payment processing through blockchain technology.

The funding announcement was overshadowed by Tempo’s successful recruitment of Dankrad Feist, a top researcher at the Ethereum Foundation and key contributor to the Ethereum network. Feist revealed he had accepted Tempo’s offer but will maintain a research advisor role for strategic initiatives at the nonprofit Ethereum Foundation. In explaining his decision, Feist stated, “I believe that the real world moment is now, and I want to make sure we do not miss this window to touch normal people’s lives everywhere in the world,” suggesting his move would enable him to more effectively bring crypto payments to mainstream adoption.

The hiring drew immediate and polarized reactions across the crypto community. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly supported Feist’s move, wishing him luck in his new position. However, many prominent crypto figures expressed strong criticism. Andy, co-host of popular crypto podcast The Rollup, declared, “Dankrad leaving Ethereum is a terrible look for open-source vs. corporate blockchains. Huge L for the entire community.” The sentiment reflected broader concerns about corporate blockchains drawing crucial talent away from decentralized ecosystems.

Influencer Gwart likened Feist’s career shift to environmental activist Greta Thunberg accepting a position at oil giant British Petroleum, highlighting the perceived ideological conflict. Laurence Day, co-founder of decentralized Ethereum lending protocol Wildcat, compared the situation to last year’s controversy when Feist and colleague Justin Drake accepted advisory positions at Ethereum restaking protocol Eigenlayer alongside their Ethereum Foundation duties—positions both ultimately abandoned due to community backlash about potential conflicts of interest. “That Eigenlayer advisorship looks pretty tame by comparison now, doesn’t it?” Day noted.

The dual announcements signal a significant strategic move by Stripe to establish Tempo as a major layer-1 blockchain specifically designed to support the payment processor’s aggressive push into cryptocurrency. The combination of substantial venture capital backing and high-profile technical talent acquisition positions Tempo to compete directly with established blockchain networks, particularly Ethereum, which has long dominated the smart contract and decentralized application landscape.

The controversy surrounding Feist’s hiring touches on fundamental tensions within the crypto industry between corporate-backed blockchain projects and community-driven, open-source development. Ryan Sean Adams, another prominent crypto influencer and noted Ethereum backer, captured the community’s anxiety by joking that while Friday’s news didn’t break his faith in Ethereum’s decentralized network, “If Vitalik joins Tempo, I’m out.” The comment underscores how deeply the crypto community values its foundational principles of decentralization and open-source development, even as major corporations like Stripe enter the space with substantial resources.

As corporate blockchain initiatives like Tempo continue to attract both funding and talent from established crypto projects, the industry faces ongoing questions about balancing innovation, adoption, and ideological purity. The strong reactions to Feist’s move suggest that for many in the crypto community, the battle between corporate and open-source blockchains represents a defining conflict for the technology’s future direction and values.