A chain with no gas token gets a lending market

An Aave Request for Final Comment proposes deploying Aave Protocol V4 on Tempo Mainnet. Tempo is a layer-1 blockchain built for payments, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm and developed in partnership with fintechs and large enterprises including DoorDash, Deel, Shopify and MoneyGram, aimed at cross-border payments, remittances, embedded finance, payroll and treasury management.

The network's unusual property is that it has no native gas token. Transaction fees are paid in US-dollar-denominated stablecoins, with pathUSD as the default fee token when none is specified. Stablecoins on Tempo are issued under the TIP-20 token standard, and the protocol includes an enshrined stablecoin exchange that uses pathUSD as its quote token. Mainnet launched on 18 March 2026 and uses chain ID 4217.

The proposed initial deployment activates one Liquidity Hub and two Spokes. The Tempo Core Hub carries OUSD, cbBTC and PRIME, and lets pathUSD and OUSD be borrowed against collateral listed in the Spokes. The Main Spoke takes cbBTC and OUSD as collateral with OUSD borrowable; the RWA Spoke takes PRIME as collateral, again with OUSD borrowable. The request notes that other assets may become available before the deployment.

The stated case is distribution rather than yield: making Aave the lending infrastructure available to the enterprises and fintechs already building on Tempo, developing markets by listing real-world assets available there, supporting stablecoin liquidity growth, and generating additional protocol revenue for the Aave DAO. The temperature check for the deployment has already passed on Snapshot, and this request sets out the proposed market scope.