Brief
- Stripe’s blockchain project Tempo has reportedly raised $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion, in a Series A round co-led by Greenoaks and Thrive Capital.
- Tempo also hired Dankrad Feist, a leading researcher from the Ethereum Foundation, sparking debate within the crypto community.
- While Vitalik Buterin supported Feist’s decision, others criticized it as a blow to open source ideals in favor of enterprise blockchains.
In a show of force majeure for Stripe’s new blockchain project, Tempo, the company has reportedly raised $500 million and also nabbed one of the main developers of the Ethereum network.
Tempo raised money in a Series A round that now values the project at $5 billion, according to a report published Friday in Fortune. The round was reportedly co-led by venture capital firm Greenoaks and Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
Stripe declined to comment Decrypt. Greenoaks and Thrive did not immediately respond to Decrypt» requests for comment regarding the increase. Paradigm, the cryptocurrency venture capital firm that incubated Tempo alongside Stripe, also did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
Even though the financing round constitutes a first significant victory for Tempo– a layer 1 blockchain that will support payment processor Stripe’s aggressive push into crypto – that’s not the biggest news from the project that rocked Crypto Twitter on Friday.
This is the revelation that Tempo managed to poach Dankrad Feist, a key contributor to the Ethereum network, to build Stripe’s new chain.
Feist, one of the Ethereum Foundation’s principal researchers, revealed Friday that he had accepted Tempo’s offer but would remain as a research advisor for a handful of strategic initiatives at the nonprofit.
I am delighted to announce that I will be joining Tempo. This past year was a turning point for crypto, where we finally saw the outlines of our vision materialize. While payments were at the forefront in the early days of crypto, I see a particular opportunity…
– Dankrad Feist (@dankrad) October 17, 2025
“I believe the real moment is here now, and I want to make sure we don’t miss this window to touch the lives of normal people everywhere,” Feist saidarguing that its decision to join Tempo will allow it to more effectively bring crypto payments to the general public.
Although this decision was publicly blessed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who wish Good luck in his new job, other members of the crypto community were much less enthusiastic.
“Dankrad leaving Ethereum is a terrible view of open source blockchains versus enterprise blockchains,” Andy, co-host of The Rollup, a popular crypto-focused podcast, said. “A huge L for the whole community. »
Gwart, another popular crypto influencer, compared Feist’s career switch to the idea of environmental activist Greta Thunberg accepting a position at oil giant British Petroleum.
Laurence Day, co-founder of Wildcat, a decentralized Ethereum lending protocol, compared news of Feist’s new job to a controversy that erupted last year when the software developer and another colleague, Justin Drake, accepted advisory positions at Ethereum taking over the Eigenlayer protocol alongside their duties at the Foundation Ethereum.
Community backlash regarding potential conflicts of interest was significant enough that Feist and Drake abandoned advisor positions.
“In comparison, Eigenlayer’s advisory role seems rather insignificant, doesn’t it? » Day remembered today.
Ryan Sean Adams, another prominent crypto influencer and noted Ethereum backer, joked that Friday’s news did not shatter its trust in the decentralization-focused network, but that such a day could come soon.
“If Vitalik joins Tempo, I’m out,” Adams said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication to reflect that Stripe declined to comment.
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