Crypto's 'barbell': Tempo's Romero says stablecoins and speculation are the only two things that actually work.

Speaking at Consensus 2026 in Miami, Tempo go-to-market lead Dan Romero described crypto's current state as a barbell — speculative trading on one end, stablecoin payments on the other, and a "wasteland" in between where most projects have failed to find product-market fit despite years of funding.

Tempo, the Stripe- and Paradigm-backed payments blockchain, is planting its flag firmly on the payments side. Built as a purpose-specific layer-1, it gives enterprises compliance controls that public chains lack — including the ability to block interactions with flagged wallet addresses. Romero's framing: "It's plumbing. But enterprises like plumbing if it's better, faster, cheaper."

Stablecoins are already moving real money in remittance corridors like U.S.-Mexico. Romero's next call: AI-native startups will default to stablecoins as their payment rail of choice, echoing how Stripe…