Klarna's 38% US revenue growth and new stablecoin launch reshape the BNPL sector. Affirm, Block, and PayPal must respond or lose ground. The $17B IPO signals a strategic shift.
Swedish buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna went public on September 10, 2025, pricing shares at $40 and raising $1.37 billion. The stock opened at $52, touched $57, then settled to close at $45.82, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $17 billion. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has since described the US as Klarna’s fastest-growing market. The company counts over 120 million consumers globally and reported 38% year-over-year revenue growth in the States. Klarna became profitable in the US by 2024, a milestone that cleared the path for the IPO.
The IPO is only half the story. In November 2025, Klarna launched KlarnaUSD, a stablecoin built on the Tempo blockchain in collaboration with Stripe and Paradigm. A month later, in December 2025, it announced a research partnership with Privy to develop consumer crypto wallet infrastructure. The company is no longer a pure-play BNPL lender – it is building a payments and digital-asset platform that puts direct pressure on Affirm, Afterpay (owned by Block), and PayPal’s Pay Later.
Klarna’s 38% US revenue growth stands out for two reasons. First, the US is the world’s largest consumer credit market, and Klarna is gaining share against entrenched incumbents. Second, profitability in the US by 2024 suggests the company can scale without bleeding cash. That is a contrast to the 2021-era narrative in which BNPL firms were growth-at-all-costs businesses.
The $17 billion valuation at debut is a recovery from the $45.6 billion peak Klarna reached during the 2021 fintech frenzy, before the 2022 downturn slashed that figure. The current valuation reflects the market’s confidence that Klarna can continue expanding its merchant partnerships and user base in the US. The company’s BNPL product is embedded at checkout for major e-commerce platforms, and each new partnership adds a recurring user-acquisition channel.
Klarna’s growth has been fueled by increasing partnerships with US retailers. The company does not disclose the full list of merchants, the trajectory suggests that the US arm is becoming the engine of total revenue. CEO Siemiatkowski’s emphasis on the US as the fastest-growing market reinforces that the company is allocating capital and engineering resources accordingly.
Klarna’s entry into crypto is not a publicity stunt. The KlarnaUSD stablecoin on the Tempo blockchain, with backing from Stripe and Paradigm, signals a serious infrastructure commitment. Stripe has been expanding crypto payments processing, and Paradigm is one of the most influential crypto venture firms. Their involvement suggests the stablecoin is designed for real payment flows, not speculation.
The Privy partnership for wallet development points to a future in which consumers manage both traditional payments and digital assets within a single Klarna interface. That would put Klarna in direct competition with PayPal – which already supports crypto buying, selling, and checkout via its PYUSD stablecoin – and with emerging wallet platforms.
Key insight: The stablecoin launch and wallet development signal Klarna’s ambition to embed crypto payments into its BNPL checkout flow. If Klarna succeeds, it could pull BNPL transaction volume onto a stablecoin rail, reducing settlement times and costs. Affirm, Afterpay, and PayPal would then face pressure to either build their own crypto rails or partner with existing stablecoin networks.
Klarna’s moves create direct pressure on three publicly traded peers.
For broader context on how payments companies are integrating crypto, read Mastercard Just Opened Its Global Payment Network To Crypto – Which Altcoins Made The Cut?.
For traders tracking the sector, two clusters of data matter: US user growth metrics and early adoption of KlarnaUSD.
Confirm signals for Klarna’s thesis:
Weakening signals for the sector pressure thesis:
For competitors, the response window is narrow. Klarna already has 120 million users and a live stablecoin. Affirm, Block, and PayPal cannot afford to wait for proof of concept – they must either announce their own crypto plans or risk losing merchant mindshare. The next six months of earnings calls, product launches, and partnership announcements will determine whether Klarna’s $17 billion bet was conservative or generous.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.