RootsFi has integrated Cap’s stcUSD as the primary source of yield for its payment network. Live on Tempo, this integration allows RootsFi balances to generate a native yield backed by financial guarantees, transforming idle money into productive capital by default.
Onboarding provides insight into what the future of money will look like. Tempo provides the rails, RootsFi provides the reach and IRL utility, and Cap provides the yield, three layers that together generate programmable money that is both quick to move and productive to hold.
Unify yield and payments into a single stack
Payment infrastructure has advanced rapidly. Moving value across the chain is now cheap, fast and permanent. But infrastructure alone only moves money; it doesn’t make money work. The gap between “money that moves” and “money that makes” is exactly where this stack operates.
Tempo is the infrastructure layer: a native Layer 1 for payments, built in close partnership with leading fintechs and Fortune 500 companies. Its architecture is designed to deliver the settlement finality and throughput required by enterprise payment products.
RootsFi is the distribution layer. As a payment layer for programmable money, RootsFi removes the friction traditionally faced by crypto cards by making native crypto assets usable for everyday purchases through its payment network.
Cap is the credit layer. A credit platform backed by financial guarantees, Cap builds the programmable credit layer that sits on top of the payment infrastructure. Its yield-generating asset, stcUSD, is the productive instrument that makes a held balance more than a held balance.
Each layer needs the others. Payments without native yield leave value dormant. Distribution-free yield remains niche, reaching only users who already know where to look. And distribution without reliable credit cannot scale, because a payment product cannot direct its users to a source of return it cannot rely on. The stack solves all three problems at once.
“The payments stack was missing a credit layer. With stcUSD live on RootsFi powered by Tempo’s specific infrastructure, this gap is narrowing. Financial guarantees are what makes the yield not only consistent in its performance, but protected by default. That’s the standard we built to, and that’s what this integration delivers,” said Benjamin Sarquis Peillard, founder and CEO of Cap.
How the integration works
With stcUSD as the primary source of yield on RootsFi, balances on Tempo can be allocated to Cap’s yield-generating asset rather than remaining stationary. stcUSD accumulates the yield generated by the Cap yield and is backed by financial guarantees that access both institutional grade yield for borrowers and capital protection for subscribers.
This distinction is what makes stcUSD viable as the primary source of yield for a payments product rather than as a secondary feature. A payments layer operates under a high level of reliability; the assets it routes user funds to must clear this same bar. Since stcUSD is backed by financial collateral, RootsFi can treat it as a default yield destination instead of an opt-in experience – exactly the property that a payment-level integration requires.
What each partner gains
For Tempo, the integration deepens the channel’s financial utility. An L1 payment becomes more valuable when the money deposited into it can also be earned without leaving the network.
For RootsFi, stcUSD adds a source of yield on which it can rely. The strength of distribution depends on the products it distributes; The credit-guaranteed return gives RootsFi a primary instrument it can direct users to with confidence.
For Cap, the integration extends the reach of stcUSD to real-world payment flows. Credit-backed yield is most useful where money actually flows, and RootsFi on Tempo puts stcUSD squarely in that path.
“We are extremely excited to work with Cap and Tempo as we continue our mission to build a global payments network and lower interchange rates. Caps scUSD will allow our users to passively earn on in-app balances without excessive DeFi risk, while taking advantage of the superior efficiency offered by Tempo’s rails,” said Matt Gergen, co-founder of RootsFi.
What comes next
Programmable money has spent years growing, gaining traction and trust in the process. Now that the momentum is there, the next step is to make it productive, which requires credit. By aligning infrastructure, distribution, and credit into a unified stack, this integration shows what the full picture looks like: value that scales through Tempo, reaches users and merchants through RootsFi, and wins through Cap. The collaboration begins with stcUSD as the primary source of yield and establishes a foundation that all three teams intend to continue building upon.
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- About Cap – Cap is a credit platform backed by financial guarantees.
- About RootsFi – RootsFi builds the useful payment layer for programmable money.
- About Tempo – Tempo is a layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for payments, developed in partnership with leading fintechs and Fortune 500 companies.
