RootsFi has integrated Cap’s stcUSD as a primary yield source for their payment network. Live on Tempo, this integration allows for balances from RootsFi’s to earn native yield backed by financial guarantees, turning idle money into productive capital by default.
The integration gives a preview of what the future of money will look like. Tempo provides the rails, RootsFi provides the reach and IRL utility, and Cap provides the yield, three layers that, together, make programmable money both fast to move and productive to hold.
Unifying Yield and Payments in One Stack
Payments infrastructure has advanced quickly. Moving value on-chain is now cheap, fast, and final. But infrastructure alone only moves money; it doesn’t make money work. The gap between “money that moves” and “money that earns” is exactly where this stack operates.
Tempo is the infrastructure layer: a payments-native Layer 1 built in close partnership with leading fintechs and Fortune 500 companies. Its architecture is designed to deliver the settlement finality and the throughput that enterprise payment products require.
RootsFi is the distribution layer. As the payment layer for programmable money, RootsFi removes friction traditionally faced by crypto cards by making crypto-native assets spendable for every day purchases via its payments network.
Cap is the credit layer. A credit platform backed by financial guarantees, Cap builds the programmable credit layer that sits on top of payments infrastructure. Its yield-bearing asset, stcUSD, is the productive instrument that makes a held balance more than a held balance.
Each layer needs the others. Payments without native yield leave value idle. Yield without distribution stays niche, reaching only the users who already know where to look. And distribution without trustworthy credit can’t scale, because a payments product can’t route its users into a yield source it can’t stand behind. The stack resolves all three problems at once.
“The payments stack has been missing a credit layer. With stcUSD live on RootsFi powered by Tempo’s specific-built infrastructure, that gap closes. Financial guarantees are what make yield not just consistent in its performance, but protected by default. That’s the standard we built to, and that’s what this integration delivers,” said Benjamin Sarquis Peillard, Founder & CEO of Cap.
How The Integration Works
With stcUSD live as a primary yield source on RootsFi, balances on Tempo can be allocated into Cap’s yield-bearing asset rather than sitting still. stcUSD accrues yield generated through Cap’s yield is backed financial guarantees which accesses both institutional-grade yield from borrowers and principal protection from underwriters.
That distinction is what makes stcUSD viable as a primary yield source for a payments product rather than a side feature. A payments layer operates under a high bar for reliability; the assets it routes user funds into have to clear that same bar. Because stcUSD is backed by financial guarantees, RootsFi can treat it as a default yield destination instead of an opt-in experiment – exactly the property a payments-grade integration demands.
What each partner gains
For Tempo, the integration deepens the financial utility of the chain. A payments L1 becomes more valuable when the money settling on it can also earn, without leaving the network.
For RootsFi, stcUSD adds a yield source it can stand behind. Distribution is only as strong as the products it distributes; credit-backed yield gives RootsFi a primary instrument it can route users into with confidence.
For Cap, the integration extends stcUSD’s reach into real payment flows. Credit-backed yield is most useful where money actually moves, and RootsFi on Tempo puts stcUSD directly in that path.
“We are incredibly excited to work with Cap and Tempo as we push our mission to build a Global Payment Network and Lower Interchange Rates. Caps scUSD will enable our users to passively earn on in-app balances without excessive DeFi risk, while taking advantage of the superior efficiency Tempo’s rails provide,” said Matt Gergen, Co Founder, RootsFi.
What comes next
Programmable money has spent years growing, gaining traction and trust in the process. Now that the traction is there, the next phase is making it productive, and that requires credit. By aligning infrastructure, distribution, and credit into a unified stack, this integration shows what a complete picture looks like: value that moves on Tempo, reaches users and merchants through RootsFi, and earns through Cap. The collaboration begins with stcUSD as a primary yield source, and sets up a foundation the three teams intend to keep building on.
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