Stripe and Paradigm-backed blockchain startup Tempo launch the Machine Payments Protocol, which uses Tempo's new blockchain to handle AI agents' transactions
Stripe and Tempo now have a named protocol that places Tempo’s new blockchain in the transaction path for AI agents, giving developers a purpose-built integration target.
Tempo’s positioning shifts from a general stablecoin-payments network toward infrastructure designed for machine-initiated transactions.
Second-order effects
Payments and blockchain providers serving AI-agent workflows face pressure to offer comparable transaction rails, particularly where agents need to make frequent or small-value payments.
The protocol can concentrate early ecosystem activity around Tempo’s chain, while Stripe gains a closer link between its payments footprint and emerging agent-payment infrastructure.
Third-order effects
If agentic commerce develops, payment networks may compete increasingly on programmable authorization, settlement and integration standards rather than only on consumer checkout experiences.
The broader market could fragment across specialized agent-payment rails unless common interoperability and trust mechanisms emerge.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift toward purpose-built payment infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, with stablecoin and blockchain rails positioned as the settlement layer.
Tempo Mainnet is live! Starting today, anyone can build on Tempo through our public RPC endpoints. Alongside mainnet, we're introducing the Machine Payments Protocol, an open standard for machine payments. [video]
Enter @Visa's new card spec for Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)—an open standard from @tempo and @stripe—bringing card-based payments into autonomous, machine-to-machine flows. Combined with enablers like @BasisTheory and @getVGS, developers can securely tokenize and orchestrate
Agents will outnumber human users on the web by orders of magnitude. Just like people, they will need a way to pay for services they use. They may run into propriety health or finance data they need to pay for when doing a deep research task, or make a tool call to a bespoke
A few things I like about MPP (machine payments protocol) Payment-method agnostic (supports stablecoins on Tempo, Stripe, cards, Bitcoin lightning, etc) Open and extensible (without our permission) Streaming payments (via state channels) Minimal and efficient
The infrastructure for agentic commerce is being built right now. The decisions we make about credentials, reach and standards will define how agents transact for years to come. 🧵
MPP differs from other machine payment protocols in that it is payment-rail agnostic and extensible from day one. Tempo developed the initial stablecoin payment method. Stripe added support for its range of payment methods. Visa extended the protocol to enable broader card [image…
Introducing the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP). https://mpp.dev/: an open protocol for machine-to-machine payments, co-authored by @tempo and @stripe. Watch it in agentic action ⤵️
Tempo Mainnet is live today! All developers can now use Tempo across Bridge's full suite of products including onramps, offramps, wallets, virtual accounts, issuance, and cards. Tempo is built from the ground up for payments. Instant settlement, predictable low fees, and high
Tempo mainnet is live! We're also launching MPP — a new open standard for machine payments co-authored with Stripe. It's payment rail agnostic — works with stablecoins on any chain but also cards, Lightning network, etc.
Tempo Mainnet is live. Alongside it, we're introducing the Machine Payments Protocol (@mpp) alongside Stripe (with extensions by Visa for cards and Lightspark for Bitcoin). Proud of the team for getting mainnet live so quickly, and excited to see what you build!
@mpp @stripe Beyond agent payments, Tempo can be used for global payouts, remittances, embedded finance, tokenized deposits, and more use cases. We'll be adding more features for enterprises in the coming months. We can't wait to see what you build! More in our blog: https://x.co…
Agent payments will soon overtake human payments on the internet. The Machine Payments Protocol (@mpp) is a new open standard co-authored by @stripe and @tempo. It's designed to be extensible and payment-method agnostic, already supporting stablecoins, cards, and more. [video]