Hi. Eric here. 

Almost four years ago, I spent a winter’s day in Klarna’s Stockholm headquarters, speaking with the buy-now-pay-later firm’s chief marketing officer, David Sandström. 

During our chat, Sandström rejected the idea that Klarna would follow in the footsteps of fellow fintech firms like Revolut and tap into cryptocurrencies. 

Digital assets were simply far too speculative and lacked real value — until they weren’t.

In February, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski hinted that the firm was about to change its tune.

On November 25, the $11 billion company finally executed a complete turnaround on the matter.  

“We were wrong on crypto and on Bitcoin, must rethink!” Siemiatkowski said this week as the company announced plans to launch a stablecoin. 

KlarnaUSD is in testing and scheduled for a mainnet launch in 2026, according to the company.

Not only is this one of the first stablecoins issued by a lender, but it further underscores the dramatic shift among financial firms towards digital assets.

Like Klarna, Wall Street giants and financial institutions alike spent the bulk of the last two decades decrying digital assets as rife with speculation, fraud, and failing to provide any real value. 

Yet, things have changed over the past few years, with fintech firms like Stripe, PayPal, and Robinhood rolling out crypto services and acquiring businesses in the sector. 

Tellingly, Tempo, the blockchain on which KlarnaUSD is developed, is backed by fintech giant Stripe.  

That trend has accelerated this year thanks to US President Donald Trump. 

Since he took office, Trump has championed crypto companies into the mainstream with a barrage of executive orders, government appointments and the signing of a landmark stablecoin bill into law. 

This has incentivised institutions to tap into digital assets like never before, driving the stablecoin market to rally 49% this year to $304 billion, according to DefiLlama.

Market watchers project stablecoins will grow tenfold over the next five years, with Citi analysts expecting them to reach $4 trillion by 2030.

Institutional adoption is a key driver behind this trend. 

Klarna may be one of the first banks to get a stablecoin on the market, but the space is likely to get crowded.

Société Générale has already launched both euro and dollar-based stablecoins.

Santander, Wells Fargo, Revolut, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase are just some industry stalwarts who have either launched or are reportedly developing their own stablecoins.

Competition is fierce. 

So, while Klarna may have bought into crypto, only time will tell if it will have to pay for it later.

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