Klarna furthers Stripe links, tapping Privy to explore potential crypto wallet after Tempo-based stablecoin foray

Digital bank and flexible payments provider Klarna has partnered with Privy, a wallet infrastructure platform owned by Stripe, to explore and co-design potential crypto wallet solutions aimed at making digital assets easier for its mainstream users to store and transact.

The initiative, announced Thursday, comes shortly after the buy now pay later firm unveiled KlarnaUSD, its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued on Tempo — the new payments-focused blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm.

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company’s growing reach and shifting views on crypto made the timing right to explore more user-friendly digital asset features. “Millions already trust Klarna to help them manage everyday spending, saving and shopping,” Siemiatkowski said on Thursday, arguing that the firm is “in a unique position to bring crypto into the financial lives of normal people, not just early adopters.”

Privy claims to power more than 100 million accounts across over 1,500 developers, including platforms like OpenSea and Hyperliquid, supporting billions of dollars in crypto and stablecoin movements each month. Privy CEO Henri Stern said the company aims to serve as “the backbone for any business that wants to harness the exciting capabilities crypto and stablecoins offer,” describing the Klarna partnership as part of its growing work with enterprise-scale fintechs.

Crypto u-turn

Klarna CEO Siemiatkowski was once a vocal crypto skeptic, but announcing the firm’s stablecoin foray last month, he said Klarna’s global scale and crypto’s growing maturity now justified its entry into the market.

“Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale,” Siemiatkowski said, noting that Klarna serves 114 million customers and processes $112 billion in gross merchandise volume annually.

At the time, Klarna said its new stablecoin is intended to trim cross-border payment costs, with global fees estimated at around $120 billion per year. The token is currently live on Tempo’s testnet and expected to launch on mainnet in 2026, issued via Bridge’s Open Issuance stablecoin tooling. Tempo recently launched its public testnet and has attracted design partners including Mastercard, UBS, and prediction market platform Kalshi.

However, Klarna framed the latest initiative as a research and development effort rather than a guaranteed product launch, adding that any decision to release a new wallet or related crypto features would depend on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction.

In its Thursday blog post, the company also hinted at additional crypto-related updates ahead, noting it expects to issue another announcement “in a week or so.”