DoorDash is working with Stripe- and Paradigm-backed Tempo to explore paying delivery workers in stablecoins, as Visa, banks and fintechs plug into Tempo’s rails.

DoorDash is teaming up with blockchain project Tempo to explore paying its delivery couriers in stablecoins, in one of the clearest signs yet that on-chain dollars are creeping into mainstream U.S. gig work. Fortune reports that the collaboration is part of Tempo’s new “stablecoin consulting” service, which promises to help enterprises identify concrete use cases and then dispatch engineers to embed stablecoin rails into their existing products.

DoorDash pilots stablecoin paychecks

Tempo, incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm, is building a dedicated layer‑1 blockchain optimized for high-speed, low-cost stablecoin payments rather than trading, and raised around $500 million at a $5 billion valuation in 2025. The company pitches itself as “a payments-first blockchain” that can handle real-world payroll, remittances, and machine-to-machine payments at scale, with fees paid directly in dollar-pegged stablecoins instead of a volatile native token.

Stablecoin advisory goes enterprise

According to a note shared with Fortune, Tempo’s new advisory unit will consist of a small dedicated team that leans on the broader organization’s engineering bench to help clients scope 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 on top of Tempo, while Visa, OnePay, Felix, Fifth Third Bank, and Howard Hughes Holdings are wiring parts of their payment operations into the network.

Stripe, which has published its own guidance on how businesses can use stablecoins for global payouts, sees Tempo as the natural extension of its card and bank rails into 24/7 on‑chain settlement, particularly for cross‑border platforms, AI agents, and high-frequency micropayments. Paradigm, meanwhile, has framed Tempo as the missing piece in a crypto “stack” that has historically been tuned for speculative trading rather than predictable, regulated consumer payments.

If the DoorDash pilot and early bank integrations succeed, the Tempo model could give large platforms a template for shifting at least part of their payroll, supplier settlements, and embedded finance products onto stablecoin rails—without forcing users to grapple with typical crypto UX or custody headaches. For gig workers and merchants, that could eventually translate into faster, programmable payouts; for regulators, it will intensify debates over how to oversee stablecoin-based wages and deposits as they move from crypto niches into mainstream labour markets.