Klarna issues stablecoin via Bridge Open Issuance

Klarna is choosing to own a digital dollar product without having to become the underlying crypto infrastructure company. Using Bridge Open Issuance means Klarna can put its own brand and distribution on top of a ready made issuance stack, while Bridge handles the plumbing for minting, movement, and interoperability. That turns the stablecoin into a product and margin layer for Klarna, not just a treasury experiment.

• Open Issuance is built for companies that want their own stablecoin fast. Stripe launched it on September 30, 2025, describing it as a Bridge powered platform that lets businesses launch and manage a stablecoin in days, with surrounding tools like onramps, offramps, wallets, and cards to drive usage after launch.
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• Bridge gives Klarna a distribution shortcut into real payment use cases. After Stripe completed the Bridge acquisition on February 4, 2025, Bridge also launched stablecoin linked Visa card issuing, which means a Klarna issued dollar can potentially move from wallet balance to everyday merchant spend through one infrastructure family.
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• The bigger bet is that Klarna is moving from BNPL into a closed loop money network. Klarna generated about $2.81B of revenue in 2024, and its stablecoin is positioned to lower payment costs for consumers and merchants while running on Tempo, a Stripe and Paradigm incubated chain built specifically for high throughput, low fee stablecoin payments.
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If this works, KlarnaUSD becomes the settlement rail underneath more of Klarna's checkout, wallet, and merchant flows. The long term effect is a tighter payments stack where Klarna captures more of the economics that today leak out to banks, card networks, and third party money movement providers.