Building blockchains is the newest fad in fintech. The U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase has one . The online brokerage Robinhood announced its plans to launch its own blockchain in June, and its competitor eToro is considering its own. And, now, the fintech giant Stripe and the stablecoin issuer Circle are getting in on the action.

Stripe is developing what it calls Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain, according to a since-deleted job posting and sources familiar with the matter. And Circle said Tuesday morning that it’s building what it calls Arc, a blockchain designed for stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets like the U.S. dollar.

There’s suddenly a flood of corporate chains, which begs the question: Why is seemingly every big finance company—especially S

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