What a Zone is
Tempo Zones are private, EVM-compatible parallel blockchains connected to Tempo Mainnet. Each Zone runs its own blockspace: a Zone operator sees its transactions, while the public sees only cryptographic proofs of validity.
This lets a business run confidential activity — payouts, internal transfers — without exposing every transaction publicly, while still anchoring to Tempo's security and proving that the Zone's state transitions are valid.
Custody stays with the user
A crucial safety property: Zone operators can never move a user's funds. Only the owner can withdraw. The operator controls visibility and ordering within the Zone, not custody.
This separation is what makes a private execution environment palatable for payments: confidentiality is gained without handing an operator the ability to seize balances.
Zones in the wild
A concrete deployment is Deel's DLUSD wallet, which uses Zones for confidential payouts. DLUSD is Deel's dollar-backed stablecoin, issued exclusively on Tempo and redeemable 1:1, with transactions targeting $0.001. The Deel wallet lets contractors hold, earn (via Morpho), and spend DLUSD, using Tempo Zones to keep payout history private.
For a business paying many contractors, this means individual payout amounts and counterparties are not broadcast publicly, while the validity of the books is still provable on Tempo.