Klarna to launch dollar-backed stablecoin as race in digital payments heats up

(Reuters) -Swedish fintech steadfast Klarna connected Tuesday said it volition motorboat a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, becoming ​the latest large payments institution to determination deeper into integer assets arsenic ‌regulators tighten oversight of the sector.

The token, called KlarnaUSD, is presently successful investigating and volition beryllium ‌available connected the mainnet successful 2026, volition beryllium afloat backed by the U.S. dollar the institution said.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose worth is tied to accepted money, and they person surged successful usage successful caller years arsenic traders question a ⁠relatively dependable plus to determination ‌funds betwixt much volatile tokens.

Klarna said it aims to presumption KlarnaUSD for mundane payments and cross-border transactions, pitching it arsenic ‍a faster and cheaper alternate to accepted banking.

The buy-now-pay-later company, 1 of Europe's largest fintech firms, has its biggest idiosyncratic basal successful the United States.

The ​stablecoin volition tally connected Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe ‌and crypto concern steadfast Paradigm.

Bigger rival PayPal launched its ain U.S. dollar token, followed by adjacent Stripe's motorboat of a stablecoin aft its $1.1 cardinal acquisition of crypto steadfast Bridge earlier this year.

These moves travel arsenic regulators successful the U.S. and Europe beforehand caller rules for integer assets. ⁠Klarna, similar different stablecoin firms, is ​expected to payment from frameworks specified arsenic the ​GENIUS Act successful the U.S. and MiCA successful Europe.

"Crypto is yet astatine a signifier wherever it is fast, low-‍cost, secure, ⁠and built for scale. This is the opening of Klarna successful crypto," CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, a erstwhile vocal crypto skeptic, said ⁠in a statement.

Klarna past week bushed analysts' gross expectations successful its archetypal quarterly study since ‌a blockbuster banal marketplace listing successful September.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas ‌in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)