> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dune.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tempo Chain Overview

> Tempo blockchain data on Dune

## What is Tempo?

Tempo is a Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin payments at scale. Incubated by Paradigm and Stripe, Tempo is built on Paradigm's high-performance Ethereum client Reth and uses Simplex BFT consensus for sub-second, deterministic finality. It is fully EVM-compatible, allowing developers to use familiar Solidity tooling like Foundry and Hardhat.

Tempo is often referred to as a "stablechain" because its entire design is optimized around stablecoin-based payments rather than general-purpose computation.

## Key Features of Tempo

### **No Native Gas Token**

Unlike virtually every other blockchain, Tempo has no native cryptocurrency. Gas fees are paid directly in USD-denominated stablecoins (USDC, USDT, etc.) via a Fee AMM that converts user-selected fee tokens to validator-preferred assets. This means `value` fields in transactions and traces behave differently than on other EVM chains — there is no native ETH-like asset being transferred.

### **Sub-Second Finality**

Tempo produces blocks every \~0.5 seconds with deterministic, immediate finality powered by Simplex BFT consensus. Once a block is committed, it is final with no re-orgs or probabilistic finality.

### **Ultra-Low Fees**

Transaction costs target under \$0.001 per transaction, with dedicated payment lanes that reserve blockspace for payment transactions to ensure low fees even during congestion.

### **TIP-20 Token Standard**

Tempo extends ERC-20 with its own TIP-20 standard, adding currency identifiers (USD, EUR), gas payment capability, a 32-byte memo field for invoice IDs and metadata, reward distribution mechanisms, and compliance policy integration. TIP-20 events are indexed on Dune under `tip20_tempo.*` tables alongside standard ERC-20 tables.

### **Built-in StablecoinDEX**

A native decentralized exchange optimized for stablecoin conversions and tokenized deposits. The StablecoinDEX is decoded on Dune under `tempoexchange_tempo.stablecoindex_*` tables.

## EVM Differences Impacting Data

While Tempo is EVM-compatible, several design choices affect how data appears compared to standard EVM chains:

* **No native token**: The `value` field in transactions and traces is not meaningful in the traditional sense since there is no native gas token. Token transfers happen via TIP-20/ERC-20 events instead.
* **TIP-20 events**: In addition to standard ERC-20 `Transfer` and `Approval` events, Tempo tokens emit TIP-20-specific events like `TransferWithMemo`, `RewardDistributed`, `QuoteTokenUpdate`, `TransferPolicyUpdate`, and `SupplyCapUpdate`.
* **Gas paid in stablecoins**: Gas fee fields (`gas_price`, `max_fee_per_gas`) denominate fees in stablecoins rather than a native token, which affects `gas.fees` computations.

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="Tempo documentation" icon="link" href="https://docs.tempo.xyz">
    Access full documentation for Tempo, including architecture, token standards, and developer guides.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Data Catalog

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Logs" icon="bolt" href="./raw/logs">
    Smart contract event logs on Tempo.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Blocks" icon="cubes" href="./raw/blocks">
    Information on processed blocks, highlighting Tempo's sub-second throughput.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Transactions" icon="message-arrow-up" href="./raw/transactions">
    Data on transactions, illustrating Tempo's ultra-low-cost stablecoin payments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Decoded" icon="file" href="./decoded/overview">
    Decoded transaction data for in-depth analysis of contract executions including the native StablecoinDEX and Uniswap deployments.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>