There’s been plenty of chatter that Stripe and Circle are “leaving” Ethereum. The reality? The story is far more nuanced—and much better for merchants.
What’s Actually Happening
- Circle → Arc (new L1): A Layer-1 blockchain designed for stablecoin payments and financial apps. A public testnet is expected in fall 2025.
- Stripe → Tempo (reported): A payments-focused chain developed with Paradigm, still in stealth/early development.
- Still on Ethereum: Stripe continues to support USDC payments on Base (Ethereum L2), already live on platforms like Shopify and Coinbase.
👉 In short: Both companies are adding new settlement rails—not pivoting away from Ethereum
Why Build Their Own Blockchains?
1. Control Over the Rails
Owning a rail means direct control of fees, settlement speed, authorization/capture, refunds, and compliance at the protocol level.
2. Margins & Reliability
By reducing reliance on third parties, Stripe and Circle can improve operational flexibility, uptime, and cost efficiency.
3. Programmability
Complex payment flows (refunds, tax handling, delayed capture) can be embedded directly into the protocol, enabling better UX without compromises
Additive, Not Replacement — What This Means for Merchants
Merchants won’t be pushed off existing rails. Instead, payment processors will automatically route transactions over the most efficient option based on price, speed, region, and success rate.
This is a multi-rail future—the winners will be those who orchestrate efficiently, not those who over-rotate.
Are These Products Live? Should You Switch Now?
- Arc: Pre-mainnet; testnet expected fall 2025.
- Tempo: Still in stealth, no public roadmap.
✅ Action today: Stick with proven rails like cards, wallets, Pay by Bank, and USDC on Base while preparing to integrate new rails once they’re production-ready
What Platforms and Merchants Should Do Now
- Prepare for multi-rail orchestration
Architect payments with policy-based routers. Make adding a new rail a config change—not a full rebuild. - Don’t rush to migrate
Current rails are stable and revenue-proven. Focus on future readiness, not wholesale replacement. - Make on-chain practical
Start with USDC on Base (already live via Stripe). Map auth/capture, refunds, and reconciliation to your finance ops.
Measure everything
Track approval lift, cost per transaction, settlement time, and dispute/fraud differences by rail. Let data drive routing policies.
How SubcoDevs Helps (Stripe-First)
At SubcoDevs, we build Stripe-centric, future-proof payment stacks that are ready for Arc, Tempo, and beyond:
- Multi-rail checkout & routing: Cards, wallets, Pay by Bank, and USDC on Base with smart fallbacks.
- Cost-aware orchestration: Automatically choose the most reliable and affordable rail per market.
- On-chain commerce features: Map refunds, reconciliation, and capture flows without breaking operations.
Abstraction layers: Be Arc/Tempo-ready without needing a full rebuild.
FAQ
Are Stripe and Circle leaving Ethereum?
No. They’re expanding options with Arc/Tempo while continuing to support Ethereum L2 (USDC on Base).
Should we migrate now?
No. Arc is pre-mainnet and Tempo is still in stealth. Stay on proven rails while designing for easy adoption later.
Which rails should we support in 2025?
Cards, wallets, Pay by Bank, and USDC on Base are ready today. Add new rails when they’re production-ready.What about compliance and tax?
Encapsulate each rail’s compliance/tax logic in your routing and reconciliation. SubcoDevs can template this for your stack.
Bottom Line
Stripe and Circle aren’t leaving Ethereum—they’re adding new rails to gain control, boost performance, and improve flexibility.
💡 Your best move:
- Architect for multi-rail orchestration
- Keep scaling on today’s stable rails
- Be ready to plug in Arc/Tempo when production-ready
👉 Book a 20-minute Stripe audit with SubcoDevs.
We’ll map out quick wins today and design a clean path to on-chain rails tomorrow.