Onchain Features · 02 / 8
Instant & Final
Settled in half a second. Never reversed.
Most payment systems separate 'sent' from 'settled'. Card payments settle later, wires hop between correspondents, and some blockchains need minutes of confirmations. Tempo finalizes deterministically in one round: once included, a payment cannot be reorganized away.
0.5s Final
~0.0s
Block time and finality
Source · Tempo docs
0
Re-orgs after finality
Source · Simplex BFT
~0 min
Ethereum finality, for comparison
Source · Tempo docs
Today vs Onchain
TodayOnchain
Cross-border wireDays, 4+ hops~0.5s, 1 hop
Confirmation riskRecalls, re-orgsDeterministic
Card authorizationSettles laterSettles in-window
Dasher payoutDaysUnder a second
Time to Final, on a Log Scale
Each marker is how long until a payment can no longer be reversed, on a logarithmic time axis.
Tempo
Deterministic, ~0.5s
Ethereum
~12 min to finality
Weekend wire
Fri 5pm → Mon 9am
Correspondent wire
Days, several hops
0.1s1s1m1h1d1w
Wire timings are illustrative, drawn from the Stripe and Coastal stories.
How It Works on Tempo
01
A VRF picks the leader
A random, verifiable proposer builds the next block.
02
Validators vote once
Over 2/3 agreement finalizes the block in a single pass.
03
Threshold signature seals it
One BLS key, reshared every ~3 hours, signs finality.
Built on01Consensus
In Practice
DoorDash· Marketplace payouts
Days
<1 second
Dasher payouts
“If we can get merchants and Dashers their money faster, and do that in a way that's affordable for them, that's a no-brainer for the entire ecosystem.”
Read story
Karta· Self-custody money app
Live signature
Access Key
Card auth
“Tempo is the first chain where we didn't have to trade self-custody for a product that actually works.”
Read story
Felix Pago· Remittance
Fee spikes
Predictable
Settlement cost
“Tempo adds a settlement layer purpose-built for payments, which is important for a real-time remittance product like ours.”
Read storyWhat It Unlocks
01
Card-speed self-custody
Karta settles card auths against an onchain balance.
02
Real-time remittance
Families receive within seconds, not days.
03
No float
Funds aren't parked in transit between institutions.