# Tempo Zones Tempo Zones are private stablecoin ledgers on Tempo. They let applications keep balances and account activity private while using Tempo for deposits, withdrawals, and settlement. Each Zone has a portal on Tempo that holds its backing assets and a private ledger maintained by its operator. A deposit locks tokens in the portal and credits an account inside the Zone. A withdrawal moves tokens back to a public Tempo address. A public ZonePortal holds backing assets and bridge queues on Tempo. The operator runs a separate private account ledger. Deposits and withdrawals cross the boundary, while settlement submits commitments and sequencer certificates. See the [architecture](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/architecture) for contract roles and settlement. ## Private accounts Accounts connect through authenticated RPC access to read their own balances and activity. Other users and public block explorers cannot browse the Zone’s account ledger. The operator maintains that ledger and can see its full state. Bridge activity remains public on Tempo, including deposit amounts, withdrawal destinations, and settlement commitments. The privacy boundary is the account activity inside the Zone. Public observers see bridge amounts, withdrawal destinations, and settlement checkpoints. An authenticated account can read its own private balance and history. The operator can see the entire Zone state. See [accounts](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/accounts) for private balances and allowances, and [RPC](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/rpc) for account-scoped access. ## Issuer policies Tokens retain their issuer’s transfer policies inside a Zone. Zone execution reads those policies from a finalized Tempo checkpoint, so the same issuer rules govern which accounts can send or receive tokens. The issuer updates its TIP-403 policy on Tempo. The Zone imports a finalized checkpoint through TempoState and applies the policy at that checkpoint during token execution. The [TIP-403 registry](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/tip403/overview) defines the policies; [execution](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/execution) explains how a Zone applies them. ## Settlement on Tempo The operator groups Zone blocks into batches and submits their commitments to the portal. When a batch is accepted, the portal records the Zone’s progress and makes its withdrawals available for processing on Tempo. [Proving and settlement](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/proving) explains batch acceptance, execution validation, and the verification guarantees of the current implementation. ## Access to Tempo liquidity Withdrawals can call Tempo contracts, allowing applications to combine token delivery with a Stablecoin DEX swap or a deposit into another Zone. The public part of the route uses Tempo’s liquidity; the destination Zone then processes its deposit into a private balance. See [bridging](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/bridging) for deposit and withdrawal flows, including [composable withdrawals](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/bridging#composable-withdrawals). ## Source and specification The [Zones repository](https://github.com/tempoxyz/zones) contains the implementation and [protocol specification](https://github.com/tempoxyz/zones/blob/main/specs/spec.md). To try the integration flows, start with the [testnet guides](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/guide/private-zones). ## Zone protocol references * [Architecture](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/architecture) — Portals, private ledgers, contract roles, and the settlement lifecycle. * [Accounts](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/accounts) — Private balances, private allowances, and account-scoped access control. * [Bridging](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/bridging) — Deposits, withdrawals, encrypted deposits, and composable withdrawal callbacks. * [RPC](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/rpc) — Authenticated JSON-RPC interface with per-account scoping and response redaction. * [Execution & Gas](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/execution) — Fee tokens, gas accounting, fixed gas costs, and token management. * [Proving](https://tempo.xyz/developers/docs/protocol/zones/proving) — Batch acceptance, execution validation, and verification guarantees.